Why study programming languages (2022)
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Why study programming languages (2022)
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Re: Why study programming languages (2022)
#2I tries to answer the question "Why do we design new programming languages?" but it forgets the simplest of answers:
Because we can. Because a compiler is nothing more than a fancy text translator.
Re: Why study programming languages (2022)
#3I think that one of the things that they neglect to mention, on why we invent new languages, and it's probably the most important thing - people want new ways to express concepts.
It's super important because those concepts get measured, and absorbed into existing languages (as best they can), but that wouldn't have happened without the new languages
New concepts like Rust's "ownership model", Smalltalk's "Object Orientation", Lisp's "Functional programming", Haskell's "Lazy evaluation", Java's "Green threads"
Re: Why study programming languages (2022)
#4Re: Why study programming languages (2022)
#5Once you understand a thing, you know what it’s capable of.
A lot of my early expertise in performance analysis was heavily informed by my SIGPLAN membership. Many of the improvements showing up in compilers and interpreters would show up in some form there, and of course those developers were either involved in the papers or had access to the same research. So when some new version came out with a big explanation of what it did, I already had a reasonably good notion of how it worked.
It was a dark day when they got rid of the paper proceedings.
Re: Why study programming languages (2022)
#6There absolutely lies value in studying programming language, but maybe not when reinventing ideas of the past.
> I encourage everyone to create the most absurd, implausible, and impractical languages. Chasing the measurable is often useful, expressing the expressible is insightful, but never forget the true goal of language design: to explore and create what isn’t.
Sorry, but this sounds more like an artsclass to me. Don't get me wrong, there was a point in time where exploration of the unknown was the only way to move forward. But these days we would need greater insights into higher-level language semantics and inherent tradeoffs to guide language-design and language evolution.
There is plenty to choose from and one can learn already so much just by reading up on the Java-EG mailing lists. Brian Goetz has a true academic mindset and I frequently feel inspired when I read his reasoning which is both highly structured and accessible.
Otherwise we would just be left with another compiler class. Compiler basics really aren't that difficult.
Re: Why study programming languages (2022)
#7I think that one of the things that they neglect to mention, on why we invent new languages, and it's probably the most important thing - people want new ways to express concepts. It's super important because those concepts get measured, and absorbed into existing languages (as best they can), but that wouldn't have happened without the new languages New concepts like Rust's "ownership model", Smalltalk's "Object Ori…
I don't think we have a lack of concepts, but a lack of concept connectivity.
To avoid feature bloat of unconnected pieces of ad-hoc syntax Java does the right thing and focuses on expressing easily-composable language building blocks.
As a last adopter language, Java has the luxory of cherry-picking good features of other languages but I think their line of thinking should be the reference moving forward.
Re: Why study programming languages (2022)
#8I tries to answer the question "Why do we design new programming languages?" but it forgets the simplest of answers: Because we can. Because a compiler is nothing more than a fancy text translator.
Because what we know about programming has progressed, and new languages appear to take advantage of that.
Re: Why study programming languages (2022)
#9I tries to answer the question "Why do we design new programming languages?" but it forgets the simplest of answers: Because we can. Because a compiler is nothing more than a fancy text translator.
Really fancy one, when it gets to what translation actually means in implementation effort.
Re: Why study programming languages (2022)
#10I think that one of the things that they neglect to mention, on why we invent new languages, and it's probably the most important thing - people want new ways to express concepts. It's super important because those concepts get measured, and absorbed into existing languages (as best they can), but that wouldn't have happened without the new languages New concepts like Rust's "ownership model", Smalltalk's "Object Ori…
I'm pretty sure they mentioned
>we create programming languages to experience new ideas; ideas that would have remained inaccessible had we stayed with the old languages.