Several of the past few essays have focused on the notation aspects of programming languages. The major benefit of a notation is making what you want to say concise without losing it’s power in the process. To use an example from an earlier essay, supporting the use of normal algebraic notation for working with matrices… Read More »
Recently, I’ve been taken with the idea of programming languages as notation. When most people look at a programming language, they see syntax and possibly an underlying paradigm. I see the same, I just find the idea that each language also provides a unique notation for expressing ideas quite appealing. Lately, I’ve been thinking about… Read More »
Many years ago, I was working on application software that we configured and shipped to nearly a hundred clients. Although we did the first installation on a machine that we provided, the customer had to install updates a few times a year. (This was before most people knew about the Internet.) A few of us… Read More »
I’ve been thinking lately about the differences between programming languages. Over and over again, we see religious wars over what is the best programming language. Lately, we’ve also seen a lot of comparisons that look at particular classes of languages. Object-oriented vs. procedural Dynamic vs. static I have always had a kind of fascination with… Read More »
I’ve seen quite a bit of interest in Domain Specific Languages (DSLs) on the Internet lately. Some good examples include Martin Fowler’s exploration of the subject: MF Bliki: DomainSpecificLanguage Language Workbenches: The Killer-App for Domain Specific Languages? He does point out that this is not a new idea. He uses Unix as an example of… Read More »
I find that I have a different viewpoint about programming languages than many programmers I’ve met. I feel that a programming language embodies three different things: a tool for solving problems an approach to thinking about solutions a notation I don’t believe that there is any language that is the best or most powerful in… Read More »