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.
801
questions
-1
votes
0answers
12 views
read input from adjacency list of a graph in C++ [closed]
how to read input from a file which has the following format n the number of vertices and starting vertex in the first line followed by n lines here the n lines are for specifying the neighbours of ...
0
votes
1answer
24 views
Passing a non-mutable argument by value or by reference?
A function can generally be defined to receive parameters by value or by reference. If we want to mutate an object inside the function and have those changes reflected outside the function, then it ...
1
vote
0answers
17 views
How the kernel works in a LCF theorem prover
I heard that there is some mechanism in LCF-based theorem provers that only allows some functions to create values of type theorem. I believe these are based on abstract data types.
Could someone ...
-3
votes
0answers
36 views
Contents in computer science?
What are the contents in computer science, for I am picking it for my GCSE's and have an interest in programming and coding. It has been iffy trying to teach myself but I am currently learning Python ...
3
votes
1answer
38 views
Good book on the history of programming languages?
I'd like to read a book on the history of programming languages, that places their development into the context of their times. What was the context in which concepts like structured programming, ...
0
votes
0answers
7 views
MIPS Assembly Program to find floor(log_2 x) recursively [closed]
I need help writing a MIPS assembly program that finds the floor(log2x) recursively, where x is input from the user. If the input is less than 1, have the program exit.
-4
votes
0answers
31 views
How bitly.com to bit.ly works [closed]
I have a question about how bitly.com to bit.ly work. My questions is not about shorting url from a long url to short one. Like the service Bitly provide.
Suppose I have website with the domain name ...
0
votes
0answers
19 views
How to assign a big integer struct to a long n [closed]
I have the following code, it does not work properly:
...
1
vote
9answers
824 views
Why, in programming languages in general, must function declarations be followed by a parameter set, external to the sub-routine scope?
I understand that in programming languages in general, function routines have what I can generally name a parameter set (or "list"), usually symbolized with parenthesis and if it is not empty, it is ...
0
votes
0answers
7 views
Finding bound function of loop invariant
In Programming in the 1990s, by Edward Cohen, the author gives an example of a bound function.
For example, if we have $B \equiv 10 - n$ where $n = 0$, say, then $B$ will eventually be falsified if ...
-1
votes
0answers
16 views
Naming convention with no-class-abstraction oriented languages
How to deal with naming convention on no-class-abstraction oriented language like C, Rust, Go etc. Class abstraction pattern hide by design the composition model and allow to avoid repetition when you ...
2
votes
0answers
71 views
Is there a term for the psychological issue of “code loss” for programmers? [closed]
I am a programmer. I have just deleted a huge amount of code which I painstakingly researched, thought about, coded, then improved and fixed as bugs popped up for a long time.
All of that code, which ...
5
votes
2answers
68 views
Why is the type ∀t.t un-inhabited in System F?
How do you prove that there exists no term with the type $\forall t. t$ in System F?
I tried searching through Pierce's TAPL and Reynold's ToPL, but could not find anything. I suspect that the proof ...
0
votes
2answers
157 views
Does the callback concept of programming have any basis in computer science?
Although I seriously code with computer languages in general since 2010 and as an amateur programmer with programming languages in particular since 2015 (primarily Bash and JavaScript imperative ...
0
votes
0answers
21 views
How can there be so many programming languages? [duplicate]
For many years, I've regularly found myself at Wikipedia and other pages about various programming languages which I've barely heard ever mentioned, yet have been around for 50-70 years and had ...
0
votes
0answers
19 views
What makes a program flow different from a program path?
Program flow and path are discriminated in the literature of program analysis. However, I have failed to find a formal definition of program flow and path. Can anyone please point me to some authentic ...
0
votes
1answer
38 views
What does it mean if a generic structure is type-erased?
This documentation states that the generic structure AnyIterator is a type-erased iterator of Element.
2
votes
1answer
27 views
Policies for handling symbols leaking out of a lexical scope
Suppose it's possible for a symbol to escape the scope in which it is defined. What are considered the possible policies for handling that? I mean possible in the sense of what choices of language ...
1
vote
0answers
23 views
What are the correlation between Actor model and Reactive Programming
Could anyone explain the difference/relation between the Actor model and Reactive programming?
It seems that they are located at different levels of abstraction - one can design the interaction ...
1
vote
1answer
53 views
What is the property of a PL that extracting a subroutine should not change the meaning?
What is the name of the property of a Programming Language that says that extracting a subprogram into a subroutine and using that subroutine instead of the subprogram should not change the meaning of ...
-1
votes
2answers
61 views
Are there any educational virtual machines?
There is plenty of machine/assembly languages such as LC-3, DLX, etc. designed for educational purposes. I am looking for an educational VM, by VM I mean stack virtual machine that has instructions ...
2
votes
1answer
40 views
Hindley-Milner system with let expansion
I'm reading these slides that present Hindley-Milner type inference. In the system HM, we have the following let rule:
$\dfrac{\Gamma \vdash t:S \;\; \Gamma,x:S \vdash t':T }{\Gamma \vdash \text{let} ...
1
vote
0answers
16 views
Is there an algorithm to switch from classical notation to concatenative stack-based notation?
Reading a bit about Joy, I was wondering if there wasn't an algorithm to switch from classical notation and style to concatenative and stack-based style.
Of course, for simple mathematical ...
1
vote
0answers
34 views
Can the most general unifier be defined categorically?
I remember from my reading of Category Theory for Computing Science that classical concepts like weakest preconditions can be seen as the categorical notion of pullback.
I was wondering if the same ...
3
votes
1answer
74 views
What should I read to understand semantics of programming languages?
I would like to have a good conceptual understanding of the semantics of programming languages: operational-, denotational-, axiomatic-, categorical-.
Is there a good (standard?) textbook for this?
0
votes
1answer
49 views
Exact meaning of metalinguistic variable
Consider the following BNF
<join-command> ::= <string> + <string>
In this context <join-command> and <...
0
votes
4answers
92 views
Why are not programs already in binary code?
First of all, please forgive me if this question shows ignorance on my behalf. What I'm asking is not why we don't program in languages written in binary code, I know the answer for that. What I would ...
0
votes
0answers
30 views
Proof strategy to show that an algorithm cannot be implemented using just hereditarily terminating procedures
I am taking my question here from there. Consider the following scenario:
You are given a fixed programming language with no nonlocal control flow constructs. In particular, the language does not ...
1
vote
1answer
44 views
Dynamic testing of down casts as explained in TAPL
On page 195 of Pierce's TAPL book, he states that one can replace a down-cast operator by some sort of dynamic type test. Then he gives the following rules:
T-Typetest:
$\dfrac{\Gamma \vdash t_1:S \;...
1
vote
0answers
38 views
What is the main concept of a promise?
The short question is: is a promise just a way to separate the code into different sections, so that when task 1 is done, do this task 2, 3, and 4. And when task 2 is done, do task 5, and so on? These ...
2
votes
0answers
18 views
How does one program in a tag system?
I've played with 2-tag systems a bit and read all about tag/lag systems. They're great for experimenting with computation, and obviously useful as intermediaries in various proofs.
My question is: ...
0
votes
1answer
80 views
Applying FP/Categorical terminology to non-FP languages
In my continuing effort to finally wrap my brain around advanced FP/categorical concepts, I've been reading dozens of articles and tutorials; what I have concluded is that:
1) Category Theory and ...
0
votes
2answers
27 views
If declarative programming is possible at the instruction/action level?
I am considering what the possibilities are with declarative programming. I have a firm understanding of how to use declarative programming in practice, but, short of having examples, I don't know if ...
1
vote
0answers
33 views
How does progress fail in system $F_{\omega}$ when types $T_1 \to T_2$ and $T_2 \to T_1$ are equivalent?
Pierce's TAPL book gives in exercise 30.3.17 the setting where $T_1 \to T_2 \equiv T_2 \to T_1$ (the function type are assumed to be equivalent). In the solutions, he claims that this assumption ...
1
vote
1answer
85 views
Confluence to show equivalent terms have one common reduct
In lemma 30.3.9, Pierce states a confluence property for $F_{\omega}$:
$S \to_* T \land S \to_* U \implies \exists V. T \to_* V \land U \to_* V$
He then states the following proposition:
$S \...
3
votes
0answers
30 views
On the diamond property for $F_{\omega}$ in TAPL
In page 455, of Pierce´s TAPL and page 560, the single-step diamond property of reduction:
$S \Rrightarrow S' \land T \Rrightarrow T' \implies \exists V. T \Rrightarrow V \land U \Rrightarrow V$
...
2
votes
0answers
55 views
Are the permutation or weakening lemmas needed for term substitution?
In TAPL book, page 453, Pierce discusses the following lemma:
$\Gamma , x:S , \Delta \vdash t:T \land \Gamma \vdash s:S \implies \Gamma, \Delta \vdash [x \mapsto s]t:T$
He claims that when $t$ is ...
1
vote
1answer
47 views
Does a generator really stops the execution at the machine code level, and does it not use the stack?
Never have I heard of a partially executed function before. But it seems the idea of it has been out for some time. Does a generator really stop execution at the machine code level, and that next ...
2
votes
0answers
45 views
What is the first programming language where the keyword “new” appeared?
It's really interesting when this keyword first appeared as a lot of popular languages but relatively old languages( C++, C#, Java, JS ) use it. I understand use of "new" in C++ in practical manner( ...
4
votes
1answer
64 views
Why does the category of language types have morphisms, not functors?
I am probably not phrasing this question well, so please bear with me as I try to explain what I mean.
I am working on learning category theory, as applied to programming. So far, I understand that:
...
0
votes
1answer
30 views
What is the relation between a programming language and the language of its input?
I find some references say that
all the features of programming language fall within what can be captured by context-sensitive grammars. In fact, no programming language known to humankind anything ...
3
votes
2answers
200 views
Why is the assignment rule the way it is in Hoare Logic?
Why is the assignment rule the way it is in Hoare Logic/Axiomatic Semantics?
I can't wrap my head around why the assignment rule is backwards from what I expected.
I understand Hoare logic is use to ...
1
vote
1answer
57 views
How to translate automaton (Turing machine) into the program of high level programming language?
Every program in high level ("industrial") programming language can be expresses as some Turing machine. I guess, that there exists universal algorithm for doing that (e.g. one can take the Cartesian ...
1
vote
2answers
31 views
Are these two sensible and related or unrelated ways of regarding a logic system as a programming language?
When I am trying to understand logic programming languages e.g. Prolog, I am immediately confused by the following two ways of relating logic systems and programming languages or type systems.
In ...
0
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0answers
30 views
What are the pros and cons of these two coding patterns/structures? And do they have a formal term?
I have traditionally been doing things like this:
function test() // A
{
if (/* conditions */)
return true;
else
return false;
}
Of late, ...
0
votes
1answer
33 views
Is relational algebra a procedural, imperative, and/or declarative language?
In Database System Concepts 6ed,
6.2 The Tuple Relational Calculus
When we write a relational-algebra expression, we provide a sequence of procedures that generates the answer to our query.
...
3
votes
0answers
158 views
Proper algorithm for resolving ambiguity in grammars via enforcing associativity and precedence rules
I was told there is a algorithm that always resolves ambiguity for grammars that have issues with precedence and associativity. I know ambiguity in general is undecidable, so I only want to resolve ...
0
votes
3answers
73 views
Can a programming language be designed to use a fixed amount of memory?
I have been toying around with the idea of creating a programming language as a side-project, specifically trying to get extreme performance out of a machine.
I have been thinking about the ...
2
votes
0answers
31 views
When concatenating two sequences, can evaluations of two input sequences be in parallel with each other?
In Practical Foundation of Programming Languages by Harper (www.cs.cmu.edu/~rwh/pfpl/2nded.pdf),
37.3 Multiple Fork-Join
So far we have confined attention to binary fork/join parallelism ...
0
votes
0answers
14 views
How is cooperative multi-threading implemented in terms of coroutines?
In Practical Foundations of Programming Languages by Harper,
Although it is relatively easy to visualize and implement coroutines involving only two partners, it is more complex and less useful to ...
