Programming in general is instructions for the computer to do something. For example:
Tell me to rest. Wait 10 minutes. Do it again until you have done it 6 times.
This could also be written as something like this:
tell(rest); wait(10); repeat(6);
Computers operate on electric signals that are either on or off. By combining these with logic, they can do complex things. Instructions to a computer must eventually be these on or off messages. These are represented with 1 = on and 0 = off. Instructions in this format are called binary.
For a human it's practically impossible to understand instructions in binary. That is why we have invented programming languages to help us write those instructions.
Programming languages are translated on the fly (interpreted) or translated before anything happens (compiled) from a language that's easier for us to understand to a form that a machine can understand: machine code that is in binary.