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Goals
Critical thinking about programming languages.
? What is a programming language!?
Study programming languages.
Be familiar with basic language concepts. Appreciate trade-offs in language design.
Trace history, appreciate evolution and diversity of ideas.
Be prepared for new programming methods, paradigms.
Why study programming languages
?
To improve the ability to develop effective algorithms.
To improve the use of familiar languages.
To increase the vocabulary of useful programming
constructs.
To allow a better choice of programming language.
To make it easier to learn a new language.
To make it easier to design a new language.
To simulate useful features in languages that lack them.
To make better use of language technology wherever it
appears.
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What makes a good language
?
Clarity, simplicity, and unity.
Orthogonality.
Naturalness for the application.
Support of abstraction.
Ease of program verification.
Programming environments.
Portability of programs.
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Cost of use.
Cost of execution.
Cost of program translation.
Cost of program creation, testing, and use.
Cost of program maintenance.
What makes a language successful
?
Expressive power.
Ease of use for the novice.
Ease of implementation.
Open source.
Excellent compilers.
Economics, patronage, and inertia.
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Influences
Computer capabilities.
Applications.
Programming methods.
Implementation methods.
Theoretical studies.
Standardisation.