Programming language

“ Modern, high-speed computers, such as the 1401, are marvelous electronic instruments, but they represent only portions of data processing systems. Well-tested programming languages for communication with computers must accompany the systems. It is through these languages that the computer itself is used to perform many of the tedious functions that the programmer would otherwise have to perform. A few minutes of computer time in translating the program can be equal to many, many hours of staff time in writing instructions coded in the language of the computer. ”

“ Depending upon the programming language, source code may contain many 1’s and 0’s and look lot like object code or may contain many instructions derived from spoken human language Programming languages the source code for which approaches object code are referred to as low level source code while those that are more similar to spoken language are referred to as high level source code. ”

“ By the type of a data object is meant the set of objects themselves, the essential properties of those objects and the set of operations which give access to, and take advantage of, those properties. The author of any correct program in any programming language must, of course, know the type of all data and variables used in his programs. If the program is to be maintainable, modifiable and comprehensible by someone other than its author, the types of variables, operations, and expressions should be easily determined from the source program. ”

“ The digital image, it maintains, can be represented in different computer languages using different techniques. This comment also states that no distinction is drawn at the machine language level between data and instructions. In general purpose programming languages, the surface separation between data and algorithms is for the ease of human programmers. ”

“ There shall be a machine independent interface to other programming languages including assembly languages. Any program element that is referenced in both the source language program and foreign code must be identified in the interface. The source language of the foreign code must also be identified.
11F. Optimization. Programs may advise translators on the optimization criteria to be used in a scope. It shall be possible in programs to specify whether minimum translation costs or minimum execution costs are more important, and whether execution time or memory space is to be given preference. ”

“ A complete and unambiguous definition of a common language is essential. Otherwise each translator will resolve the ambiguities and fill in the gaps in their own unique way. There are currently a variety of methods for formal specification of programming language semantics, but it remains a major effort to produce a rigorous formal description, and the resulting products are of questionable practical value. The real value in attempting a formal definition is that it uncovers the incomplete and ambiguous specifications. ”

“ Much like a mathematical or scientific formula, one can describe the function and design of encryption software by a prose explanation; however, for individuals fluent in a computer programming language, source code is the most efficient and precise means by which to communicate ideas about cryptography. [¶] ...The fact that a medium of expression has a functional capacity should not preclude constitutional protection. [¶] ... [¶] ... [C] omputer source code, though unintelligible to many, is the preferred method of communication among computer programmers. ”

“ More simply, the translator cannot give up program reliability and correctness, regardless of the excuse. Note that for most programming languages there are few known safe optimizations, and many unsafe ones. The number of applicable safe optimizations can be increased by making more information available to the compiler, and by choosing language constructs which allow safe optimizations. This requirement allows optimization by code motion, providing that motion does not change the effect of the program. ”

“ The language will provide data types for integer, real (floating point and fixed point) , Boolean and character and will provide arrays (i.e., composite data structures with indexable components of homogeneous type) and records (i.e., composite data structures with labeled components of heterogeneous type) as type generators.
These are the common data types and type generators of most programming language and object machines. They are sufficient, when used with a data definition facility (see E6, D6, and J1) , to efficiently mechanize other desired types. ”

“ Files that use proprietary formats, such as word-processing programs, spreadsheets, database programs, etc. These files contain formatting (like italics, underlines, etc.) and perhaps graphics, and other goodies beyond the simple text.
2. "Application Programs". These are programs written in (the binary) machine language that your computer understands. They are "compiled" from text files of "source code" written in a programming language. Vendors almost never make their source code available—except for free software, which you may have to compile yourself. ”

“ A common language needs capability for growth. It should contain all the power necessary to satisfy all the applications, and the ability to specialize that power to the particular application task.
A language with defining facilities for data and operations often makes it possible to add new application-oriented structures, and to use new programming techniques and mechanisms through descriptions written entirely within the language. Definitions will have the appearance and costs of features which are built into the language, while actually being catalogued, accessible application packages. ”

“ A survey of scholarship, software, and other resources for computing in the humanities. The first volume covers materials through 1987. Entries are divided among 29 divisions: archaeology; art history; biblical studies; computational linguistics; creative writing; dance; drama; English-language instruction; folklore; historical studies; law; lexicography; linguistics; musicology; natural languages and literatures (classified by language, with English subdivided by historical period) ; philosophy; bibliographic databases; editing and publishing; information management; programming languages ”

“ We wish to:
alleviate the confusion caused by Micro-PLANNER, CONNIVER, etc. by clarifying the embedding of non-recursive control structures in a recursive host language like LISP. explain how to use these control structures, independent of such issues as pattern matching and data base manipulation. have a simple concrete experimental domain for certain issues of programming semantics and style. ”

“ Given the exciting prospects for computer-based advanced automation in future missions, a program for more efficient, effective, and timely software development, management, and maintanance is mandatory. Principal software requirements are in the areas of programming languages, the software development environment, software validation, algorithm design, fault tolerance, and error recovery. Automatic programming should also be considered as a vehicle for improving the quality of software and the process of developing it. Data management. ”

“ Instead of getting existing systems to talk to each other and writing up the best practices, these self-appointed guarantors of the Semantic Web have spent their time creating their own little universe, complete with Semantic Web databases and programming languages. But databases and programming languages, while far from perfect, are largely solved problems. People already have their favorites, which have been tested and hacked to work in all sorts of unusual environments, and folks are not particularly inclined to learn a new one, especially for no good reason. ”

“ Thus, what is desired is drastically to increase the rate of interaction between the programmer and the computer without large economic loss and also to make each interaction more meaningful by extensive and complex system programming to assist in the man-computer communication. ”

“ But a computer is like, ten times more complicated, and it will dance to any tune you play. You can learn to write simple code in an afternoon. Start with a language like Python, which was written to give non-programmers an easier way to make the machine dance to their tune. Even if you only write code for one day, one afternoon, you have to do it. Computers can control you or they can lighten your work -- if you want to be in charge of your machines, you have to learn to write code. ”

“ Each of the above points can contribute to program clarity. The use of free format, mnemonic identifiers and conventional forms allows the programmer to use notations which have their familiar meanings to put down his ideas and intentions in the order and form that humans think about them, and to transfer skills he already has to the solution of the problem at hand.
A simple uniform language reduces the number of cases which must be dealt with by anyone using the language. If programs are difficult for the translator to parse, they will be difficult for people. ”

“ The progressively increased mediation that affects efficiency levels also contributes to the multiplication of the number of languages involved in describing, designing, coordinating, and synchronizing human work. We are facing new requirements-those of parallelism, non-linearity, multi-valued logic, vagueness, and selection among options. Programming, never subject to wrong or right, but to optimal choice, and always subject to further improvement, is becoming a requirement for many practical experiences, from the arts to advanced science. ”

“ On the other hand, the programmer should not be forced to overspecify his program and thereby cloud their logic, unnecessarily eliminate opportunities for optimization, and misrepresent arbitrary choices as essential to the program logic. Defaults should be allowed, in fact encouraged, in don't care situations. ”

“ Tracking Mel's code was a real adventure.
I have often felt that programming is an art form, whose real value can only be appreciated by another versed in the same arcane art; there are lovely gems and brilliant coups hidden from human view and admiration, sometimes forever, by the very nature of the process. ”

“ Real Programmers can make machines do things that were never in their spec sheets; in fact, they are seldom really happy unless doing so. A Real Programmer's code can awe with its fiendish brilliance, even as its crockishness appalls. Real Programmers live on junk food and coffee, hang line-printer art on their walls, and terrify the crap out of other programmers -- because someday, somebody else might have to try to understand their code in order to change it. ”

“ The effect of the restriction on combinations is startling. On the one hand, they do not so constrain the language as to be useless; on the other hand, they require a radically different approach to the expression of algorithms. ”

“ Describes a primitive programming style, one in which the programmer relies on the computer's processing power instead of using his or her own intelligence to simplify the problem, often ignoring problems of scale and applying naive methods suited to small problems directly to large ones. ”

“ A large number of special cases should compile efficiently. For example, a program doing numerical calculations on unsubscripted real variables should produce code no worse than FORTRAN. Parameter passing for single argument routines might be implemented much less expensively than multiple argument routines.
One way to reduce costs for unneeded capabilities is to have a base language whose data structures and operations provide a single capability which is composable and has a straight-forward implementation in the object code of conventional architecture machines. ”

“ There is simply no way to assure that software is free of flaws. Though software is mathematical in nature, it cannot by "proven" like a mathematical theorem; software is more like language, with inherent ambiguities, with different definitions, different assumptions, different levels of meaning that can conflict.
Human beings can manage, more or less, with human language because we can catch the gist of it. ”

“ The large systems can support cross compilers which are much more powerful than those self-hosted on a smaller target machine. While this is not yet a universal procedure, it certainly provides a further opportunity to bring to bear tools to promote efficient programs. In such a case, the requirement on the high order language is to give as much information to the compiler as possible without overly restricting its options. ”

“ The first level is the fully applicative level, to which most source-language constructs are easily reduced; the second is the continuation-passing style level, which is easily reduced to machine language. We envision building a compiler in three stages: (a) reduction of a user language to basic SCHEME, whether by macros, a parser of algebraic syntax, or some other means; (b) optimization by means of SCHEME-level source-to-source transformations, and conversion to continuation-passing style; and (c) generation of code for a particular machine. ”

“ Such a subset would only restrict the amount of information available to a compiler and would, of necessity, produce a less efficient code. The computer would produce even poorer code if forced to host on a small-target machine.
ACCEPTABILITY No language is going to be of value unless it is used. There are many tangible and intangible influences which will determine its final acceptability. The large scale acceptability of compilers is certainly the most influential, tangible asset. ”

“ What is new, we think, is the serious proposal that a practical interpreter and compiler can be designed for a language in which such models serve as the sole definitions of these imperative constructs. ”