fourth-generation language

In computing, a type of programming language designed for the rapid programming of applications but often lacking the ability to control the individual parts of the computer. Such a language typically provides easy ways of designing screens and reports, and of using databases. Other ‘generations’ (the term implies a class of language rather than a chronological sequence) are machine code (first generation); assembly languages, or low-level languages (second); and conventional high-level languages such as BASIC and Pascal (third).