just wondering

[Nelreem]

i was just wondering, how do programming languages show up on the screen? why does text come out as picture? and, if you get a new language, how does the computer know what to make?

[Spetnik]

The computer does not understand your programming language. Running on your computer is an operating system (MacOS, UNIX, Linux, Windows). These operating systems are compiled to machine code which the computer directly understands. They also contain binary libraries for programs to use (including text and drawing functions, as well as printing and networking).

When you write an application in say, C, you use a compiler that compiles the application into a binary executable that your operating system can read. The operating system then executes its built-in commands based on what you wrote in a human-readable programming language.