Questions tagged [programming-languages]
Questions related to design, implementation, and analysis of programming languages. NOT for questions about how to program, which are off-topic on this site.
860
questions
1
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0answers
17 views
What will be the output when using pass-by-value-result with parameters such n+1?
Let's say a function $f$ is called with parameter $n+1$. Since I use pass-by-value-result, value of formal parameter will be transmitted to the caller's actual parameter at the end of the call. Let ...
-5
votes
1answer
15 views
How can i solve it? [closed]
Write a C++ Program, which declares Integer ‘a’, Float ‘b’ and Character ‘c’. Ask from user for integer value and store it in ‘a’, ask for Float value and store it in ‘b’, ask for a character and ...
2
votes
1answer
24 views
Textbook on formal syntax (and semantics) of programming languages
I'd like to learn about formal syntax of programming languages: how do we describe the syntax of a programming language and how it should be parsed? How do we assign formal semantics to a parsed ...
1
vote
0answers
73 views
How can I simulate nested WHILE loops in a theoretical programming language to show Turing completeness?
PRE-WORK-POST is a theoretical programming language with the following structure, where P,Q and R are LOOP program:
$$\text{PRE} \ P \ \text{WORK} \ Q \ \text{POST} \ R \ \text{END}$$
First $P$ is ...
4
votes
1answer
43 views
Explain the difference between Turing Complete and Turing Equivalence
I'm not sure if I understand the difference between Turing Complete and Turing Equivalent programming languages.
A computational system that can compute every Turing-computable
function is called ...
2
votes
0answers
32 views
What would you do if the author of a published CS article does not respond to code requests? [closed]
Since reproducibility is a major principle or basic norm of scientific experiments, simulations, and computations, what would you do or what to do if the author of a published CS article does not ...
2
votes
0answers
29 views
Understanding the simulate of an IF loop program through a LOOP program
We have the following operation $\text{IF} \ x_i =0 \ \text{THEN} \ P \ \text{END}$. I want to simulate this using a $\text{LOOP}$ program. Here is what I have:
$$\text{IF} \ x_i = 0 \ \text{THEN} \ P ...
3
votes
0answers
43 views
Is there a language which enforces “no escape” of variables?
Many languages with GC perform escape analysis to reduce heap allocations. Is there a language with a "no-escape" construct that tells the programmer during compile time to not escape ...
18
votes
2answers
5k views
Paradox? Pure Prolog is Turing-complete and yet incapable of expressing list intersection?
Pure Prolog (Prolog limited to Horn clauses only) is Turing-complete. In fact, a single Horn clause is enough for Turing-completeness.
However, pure Prolog is incapable of expressing list intersection....
3
votes
1answer
60 views
What is considered being proficient in a programming language?
I am a college student looking to get into industry work soon and want to understand what employers consider 'proficient' when it comes to programming languages. Right now, I understand that to mean ...
3
votes
0answers
40 views
Is there a computer language with optional dependent types?
I'm looking for a computer langauge with "dependent types" but...
The problem with it having a full implementation is that you end up having to write formal type proofs to get even anything ...
1
vote
1answer
41 views
Is there a formalization for the trade-off between the expressiveness and the speed of a programming language?
I do not have a strong background in theoretical computer science, so the terminology I use may not be the most ideal.
Basically the "trend" across programming languages I have noticed is ...
2
votes
0answers
22 views
Coding max as an interaction net
I am reading Yves Lafont's introductory paper Interaction Nets. Early in the beginning he mentions that max cannot be coded as follows
since in this coding it is not possible to choose which argument ...
0
votes
0answers
17 views
What is the Memory Bandwidth Usage in a Program Related to?
We can use performance counter tools to check the memory bandwidth usage while a program is running. I want to ask what is this memory bandwidth related to? What parameters are involved in memory ...
2
votes
1answer
29 views
printf(“%d”,~5); prints out -6 why is that?
I was reading the book "Computer systems: A programmer's perspective" and saw that the operator, "~", is a NOT operator. When I use it to NOT positive integers, it returns the ...
0
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0answers
34 views
Practical application of loop, e.g. check prime number [migrated]
I am teaching some high school students, also the first time programmers, some basic programming concepts and applications. When introducing loop I find that using it to check prime number (or find ...
26
votes
3answers
6k views
Is there any reason why the modulo operator is denoted as %?
I would like to know if there is any reason why many programming languages use the notation % for the modulo operator?
It is used in the most "famous" ...
0
votes
0answers
19 views
formal definition of lexical scope
I wonder if there is a formal definition of lexical scope so that people can prove things with respect to it, for example, that an interpreter implements lexical scope. You may ask what level of ...
0
votes
1answer
14 views
Subclass specification
From http://web.mit.edu/6.031/www/fa19/classes/12-interfaces-enums/#implementing_generic_interfaces
"That means B is only a subtype of A if B’s specification is at least as strong as A’s ...
1
vote
0answers
18 views
Unifying object oriented language
I'm not sure if this is off-topic but I was thinking about the following: many modern (object-oriented) programming languages are very similar at their core, i.e. they share language features like ...
0
votes
0answers
25 views
Function notation/mapping for this type of functions?
In short, what is the proper function notation/mapping for this type of functions?
From Wikipedia regarding maps:
In the communities surrounding programming languages that treat functions as first-...
2
votes
1answer
61 views
What are the most used statements in programming (ranked)?
I was wondering if there are any resources for a study/ranking of the most frequently used statements (by statements I mean assigning, invoking, instantiating etc, like in C#) in programming overall (...
-1
votes
1answer
19 views
Random numbers with condition in matlab
I need ’n’ random numbers that:
each one is bigger than ‘a’
their sum is smaller than ‘b’
How can I have that in Matlab?
0
votes
0answers
24 views
Are there any beginner-friendly courses teaching how to create a programming language?
There are many excellent step-by-step courses (free and paid) teaching you how a specific programming language works and how to use it to create applications. I've benefited a lot from these courses.
...
9
votes
1answer
836 views
Monad in Haskell programming vs. Monad in category theory
I have a question about concept of monad used in Haskell programming
and category theory in math.
Recall in Haskell a monad consists of following components:
A type constructor that defines for each ...
0
votes
1answer
46 views
I want to learn more about computer science. Where should I start?
Hello computer scientists,
I am a mathematician. I have taken some undergraduate courses in C++, Python, assembly language, boolean algebra, logic, graph theory, etc. I would like to learn more about ...
2
votes
1answer
61 views
How does the undecidability of Extensional Martin-Löf Type Theory apply to real type-checking compilers?
It is claimed in many sources (for example, here) that adding a rule like "if Id(X,Y) then X really equals ...
3
votes
1answer
24 views
How would you model Rust procedural macros?
In Rust programming language one can write a compiler extension function that works on abstract syntax tree, effectively modifying source code before it gets converted into machine instructions.
In ...
-1
votes
1answer
34 views
Java programming object terminology
Say there is a class called Person. Then in the following expression :
Person human = new Person()
Which is the "reference&...
-1
votes
1answer
47 views
doubts on cin and scanf [closed]
i spent literally 5hrs trying to figure out, why the value of n is 1 for my second test case ( which begins at line 12 ) , but i am unable to, could you help me with that?
...
0
votes
1answer
22 views
Can you use binary files to reverse engineer cpu architecture?
I wanted to know if it was possible to add code directly to a computer without an operating system or any programming language. To do that, I thought that maybe I could use the binary files to reverse ...
2
votes
1answer
69 views
Type-checking function calls with functional subtyping
I'm relatively new to the topic. Suppose that you want to type-check an expression of the form f(a), i.e. a function call. Assuming that all the declarations are ...
0
votes
0answers
20 views
How would I convert separate digits to an actual number?
In Dr. Racket, how would I combine the digits w, x, y, z to wxyz (for example 3, 7, 8, 9 to 3,789)?
I haven't gotten very far on this:
(define digits-to-numbers w x y z)
1
vote
1answer
30 views
what are the weakest preconditions of these following statements
what is the meaning of postcondition and weakest postcondition in terms of programing and what are weakest postconditons of following statements.
...
0
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0answers
25 views
Regular expressions accepted by programming languages but are not regular [duplicate]
The below definition of Regular Language is given in Wikipedia.
In theoretical computer science and formal language theory, a regular language (also called a rational language) is a formal language ...
20
votes
5answers
4k views
What is the formal, rigorous definition of a programming language?
In programming language theory, people study the theory behind programming languages. But I have never heard any formal definition of programming languages themselves. What is the formal definition, ...
3
votes
0answers
50 views
Semantics of “write-once” variables for complex data structures
Question
My use case for what is described below is not a language or compiler implementation, but finding a reasonable semantics for this feature in a an abstract calculus.
Ideally, you give me a ...
0
votes
2answers
67 views
Are C standard library functions considered part of C programming language
Do we consider functions like printf part of C language even if it's not a keyword in it.
0
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1answer
37 views
First-order mutual-recursive functions Turing-complete or incomplete?
Assume we have a C-like programming language with no pointer/heap semantics (i.e. there is no concept of memory; everything is on the stack). The only datatype supported is Integer, but suppose the ...
1
vote
1answer
47 views
Terms for different models of sum types
There seem to be at least a couple different possible ways of modeling sum types in a type system, but I haven't been able to find consistent terms for referring to them:
A sum type is formed from a ...
1
vote
1answer
42 views
In the dataflow programming paradigm programs are modeled as directed graphs. Are the edges of the graph variables? And are the vertexes functions?
As I understand it in dataflow programming, programs are structured as directed graphs, an example of which is below
Is it true to say that the arrows (or edges) represent the variables within a ...
3
votes
0answers
61 views
What's the meaning of linguistics?
In the programming language theory world, there are two important terminologies, i.e syntax, and semantics.
I can understand these two terminologies:
syntax is about sentence's structure (e.g. a valid ...
1
vote
2answers
44 views
What programming language should I use to run physics simulations of CO2 being absorbed by different materials?
I want to model the absorption of CO2 with multiple different materials such as cement, limestone, wood, etc? I know Matlab is capable of these types of physics simulation according to this research ...
2
votes
1answer
67 views
How to view Graph Reduction/Graph Representation for a Haskell program?
I know that under the hood, for a Haskell program, the GHC compiler uses graph reduction for optimization. Is there any way to view this graphical representation of the program? I haven't been able to ...
0
votes
0answers
59 views
What does it take to create a new programming language and its toolchain?
I am super novice to this topic, so my apologies if my question looks completely nonsense to you all!
Imagine you want to create a new programing language that transpiles to a more common high/low-...
0
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0answers
26 views
Exceptions from exceptions, does such a thing exist?
I am intrigued: In many languages there are both normal control flow and exceptions.
But I never saw "an exception from an exception" or "an exception from an exception from an ...
18
votes
6answers
7k views
Why do more powerful programming languages tend to have slower implementations?
I was reading this article. The author talks about "The Blub Paradox". He says programming languages vary in power. That makes sense to me. For example, Python is more powerful than C/C++. ...
0
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0answers
25 views
Question regarding definition of recursive function
According to Wikipedia, and also a very common definition of a recursive function found in several books, "functions that call themselves from within their own code". I agree that this solves the ...
6
votes
3answers
877 views
Where should I start to understand how computers work? [duplicate]
I am interested in how computers work but I have no idea how the concept of 0's and 1's converts to making possible for people to control a computer by programming. I would like to understand from ...
1
vote
2answers
108 views
Do there exist coding languages where the halting problem is solvable but not trivial
Does there exist a coding language where
1. It is always possible to determine whether a computer program will halt or run forever. And
2. The answer is not always yes. (or always no)
So languages ...
