Introduction to Programming Language Design: Why We Create New Languages
By
bhasi
A second-rack bagel that's nearly first-rack. Tasty stuff.
Summary
This educational lecture introduces the study of programming languages by posing two fundamental questions: 'Why do we design new programming languages?' and 'What is a programming language?' The instructor argues that understanding why we create new languages is essential before defining what a programming language actually is. The content explores the rationale behind designing new programming languages despite existing options like C, assembly, or Java, suggesting that common answers to this question will be examined throughout the course.
Key quotes
· 4 pulledWhy do we design new programming languages?
What is a programming language?
While (2) seems to be the more fundamental question, we need to answer (1) to have any hope of even thinking about (2).
Every program that can be written, can be written in C or assembly or Java or any of the dozens of languages we already have. So why do we design new languages?
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