The article examines the situation with the introduction of programming languages as an eligible element and the possibilities of recognizing programming languages as acceptable and recognized by the state. It is the case now that the issues of the existence and application of programming languages for social regulations cause significant debate, although in fact we are talking only about smart contracts and the use of programming languages for their writing and launching. In other situations of professional use of programming languages, significant legal issues have not yet been raised so acutely. But the development of digital technologies and their implementation, including in the legal social regulations, is happening very rapidly. The likelihood of the need to use programming languages to regulate social relations, and with a significant overrun beyond the strictly professional range of issues, is a very near future. The existing gaps between natural and artificial languages, between regulatory norms and the technologies used for their implementation, are being annihilated very quickly. All this forces us to evaluate programming languages in the legal domain and determine the conditions and boundaries of their existence along with natural languages. The main part of the article examines the relationship between natural and artificial languages, defines the system of artificial languages proper and their classification. The status and position of programming languages existing at the moment are revealed. As a result of the research, a conclusion is made about the prospects for the existence of a programming language as an eligible one, about the possibilities and conditions of its use beyond the boundaries of professional use. The methodological basis of the research is made up of general scientific and special scientific methods: analysis, comparison, description, systematic and structural, comparative and legal, formal and logical, etc.