HTML Is a Programming Language. Fight Me

The article seems to simply assume that only programming languages have value, then argue that since HTML has value, that it is a programming language.

EDIT: It's a very common logical confusion. Just because someone says "HTML is bad because it's not a programming language" but you think HTML is good doesn't mean that HTML is a programming language. The first person could just be wrong about there being a connection between badness and not being a programming language. It's a shame the entire article is written based on this error

Re: HTML Is a Programming Language. Fight Me

#5

Post by empressplay » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 4:01 PM UTC

> Because HTML looks easy and lacks features like formal conditional logic and Turing-completeness, it’s often dismissed as not a programming language.

Uh, yes? It's _not_ a programming language, it's a markup language. It's kind of in the name.

Re: HTML Is a Programming Language. Fight Me

#6

Post by recursivedoubts » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 4:01 PM UTC

yes:

https://html-lang.org

Re: HTML Is a Programming Language. Fight Me

#7

Post by empressplay » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 4:03 PM UTC

recursivedoubts wrote: post #6

yes: https://html-lang.org

Cute, but that's not the HTML TFA is talking about :)

Re: HTML Is a Programming Language. Fight Me

#8

Post by breakingrules3 » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 4:07 PM UTC

what a completely useless article of drivel

Re: HTML Is a Programming Language. Fight Me

#9

Post by koolala » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 4:08 PM UTC

empressplay wrote: post #5

> Because HTML looks easy and lacks features like formal conditional logic and Turing-completeness, it’s often dismissed as not a programming language. Uh, yes? It's _not_ a programming language, it's a markup language. It's kind of in the name.

It's a declarative programming language. Saying it's "in the name" is a meme, it was named that before it supported scripting.

Re: HTML Is a Programming Language. Fight Me

#10

Post by lcnPylGDnU4H9OF » Fri, Jan 10, 2025, 4:09 PM UTC

bowsamic wrote: post #4

The article seems to simply assume that only programming languages have value, then argue that since HTML has value, that it is a programming language. EDIT: It's a very common logical confusion. Just because someone says "HTML is bad because it's not a programming language" but you think HTML is good doesn't mean that HTML is a programming language. The first person could just be wrong about there being a connection…

HTML can be used to tell different devices in different contexts what to display and how to display it. It serves as a sort of general DSL, which is a bit of an oxymoron and does come remarkably close to describing a programming language.