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.
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How can a language whose compiler is written in C ever be faster than C?
Taking a look at Julia's webpage, you can see some benchmarks of several languages across several algorithms (timings shown below). How can a language with a compiler originally written in C, ...
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Why are there so many programming languages?
I'm pretty fluent in C/C++, and can make my way around the various scripting languages (awk/sed/perl). I've started using python a lot more because it combines some of the nifty aspects of C++ with ...
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Is Category Theory useful for learning functional programming?
I'm learning Haskell and I'm fascinated by the language. However I have no serious math or CS background. But I am an experienced software programmer.
I want to learn category theory so I can become ...
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Why are some programming languages "faster" or "slower" than others?
I have noticed that some applications or algorithms that are built on a programming language, say C++/Rust run faster or snappier than those built on say, Java/Node.js, running on the same machine. I ...
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Formal program verification in practice
As a software engineer, I write a lot of code for industrial products. Relatively complicated stuff with classes, threads, some design efforts, but also some compromises for performance. I do a lot of ...
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Dependent types vs refinement types
Could somebody explain the difference between dependent types and refinement types? As I understand it, a refinement type contains all values of a type fulfilling a predicate. Is there a feature of ...
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What properties of a programming language make compilation impossible?
Question:
"Certain properties of a programming language may require that the only way to get the code written in it be executed is by interpretation. In other words, compilation to a native machine ...
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Are there minimum criteria for a programming language being Turing complete?
Does there exist a set of programming language constructs in a programming language in order for it to be considered Turing Complete?
From what I can tell from wikipedia, the language needs to ...
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Can a dynamic language like Ruby/Python reach C/C++ like performance?
I wonder if it is possible to build compilers for dynamic languages like Ruby to have similar and comparable performance to C/C++? From what I understand about compilers, take Ruby for instance, ...
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What is a safe programming language?
Safe programming languages (PL) are gaining popularity. What is the formal definition of safe PL? For example, C is not safe, but Java is safe. I suspect that the property “safe” should be applied to ...
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How can I explain to my parents that I study programming languages?
I am currently finishing my MSc in computer science. I am interested in programming languages, especially in type systems. I got interested in research in this field and next semester I will start a ...
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How are variables stored in and retrieved from the program stack?
Apologies in advance for the naivety of this question. I am a 50 year old artist trying to properly understand computers really for the first time. So here goes.
I have been trying to understand how ...
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What is the earliest use of the "this" keyword in any programming language?
I understand the this (or self or Me) is used to refer to the current object, and that it is ...
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Why are some programming languages Turing complete but lack some abilities of other languages?
I came across an odd problem when writing an interpreter that (should) hooks to external programs/functions: Functions in 'C' and 'C++' can't hook variadic functions, e.g. I can't make a function that ...
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What can Idris not do by giving up Turing completeness?
I know that Idris has dependent types but isn't turing complete. What can it not do by giving up Turing completeness, and is this related to having dependent types?
I guess this is quite a specific ...
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How does Tarjan's pseudocode work (explained to someone familiar with C or Java)?
The Short Story
A famous computer scientist, Tarjan, wrote a book years ago. It contains absolutely bizarre pseudocode. Would someone please explain it?
The Long Story
Tarjan is known for many ...
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What determines the "speed" of a programming language?
Suppose a program was written in two distinct languages, let them be language X and language Y, if their compilers generate the same byte code, why I should use language X instead of the language Y? ...
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Visual Programming languages
Most of us learned programming using "textual" programming languages like Basic, C/C++, and Java. I believe it is more natural and efficient for humans to think visually. Visual programming allows ...
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Can regular languages be Turing complete?
I was reading about Iota and Jot and found this section confusing:
Unlike Iota, where the syntactic tree for a string can branch either on the left or on the right, Jot syntax is uniformly left-...
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Are generational garbage collectors inherently cache-friendly?
A typical generational garbage collector keeps recently allocated data in a separate memory region. In typical programs, a lot of data is short-lived, so collecting young garbage (a minor GC cycle) ...
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Clear, intuitive derivation of the fixed-point combinator (Y combinator)?
The fixed-point combinator FIX (aka the Y combinator) in the (untyped) lambda calculus ($\lambda$) is defined as:
FIX $\triangleq \lambda f.(\lambda x. f~(\lambda y. x~x~y))~(\lambda x. f~(\lambda y. ...
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Criteria for selecting language for first programming course
As a university-level CS educator, the issue of which programming language to teach in the first programming course often comes up for discussion. There are thousands of languages to choose between, ...
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on "On the cruelty of really teaching computing science"
Dijkstra, in his essay On the cruelty of really teaching computing science, makes the following proposal for an introductory programming course:
On the one hand, we teach what looks like the ...
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Why do we need assembly language?
We mostly write programme in high level language. So while studying I came across assembly language. So an assembler converts assembly language to machine language and a compiler does the same with ...
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Why is the object destructor paradigm in garbage collected languages pervasively absent?
Looking for insight into decisions around garbage collected language design. Perhaps a language expert could enlighten me? I come from a C++ background, so this area is baffling to me.
It seems ...
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How are programming languages and foundations of mathematics related?
Basically I am aware of three foundations for math
Set theory
Type theory
Category theory
So in what ways are programming languages and foundations of mathematics related?
EDIT
The original ...
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Why are functional languages Turing complete?
Perhaps my limited understanding of the subject is incorrect, but this is what I understand so far:
Functional programming is based off of Lambda Calculus, formulated by
Alonzo Church.
Imperative ...
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What are staged functions (conceptually)?
In a recent CACM article [1], the authors present an implementation for staged functions. They use the term as if it was well-known, and none of the references looks like an obvious introduction.
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Are there programs that can 'translate' source code between any two languages?
Are there programs that can 'translate' source code between any two languages (assuming the translator has access to the requisite libraries)?
If there are, how do they work (techniques used, ...
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Are programming languages becoming more like natural languages?
Can we study programming languages in the context of linguistics? Do programming languages evolve naturally in similar ways to natural languages?
Although full rationality, and mathematical ...
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Are all turing complete languages interchangeable
Note, while I know how to program, I'm quite a beginner at CS theory.
According to this answer
Turing completeness is an abstract concept of computability. If a language is Turing complete, then ...
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What is the relation between functors in SML and Category theory?
Along the same thinking as this statement by Andrej Bauer in this answer
The Haskell community has developed a number of techniques inspired by
category theory, of which monads are best known but ...
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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" ...
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What is the Relationship Between Programming Languages, Regular Expressions and Formal Languages
I've looked around the net for an answer to this question and it seems as if everybody implicitly knows the answer except me. Presumably this is because the only people who care are those who have had ...
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Is a universal assembly language for all computers possible?
I would like to ask a few questions about Assembly language. My understanding is that it's very close to machine language, making it faster and more efficient.
Since we have different computer ...
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Visual programming tools, why don’t they work with the AST directly?
I've found several open source visual programing tools like Blockly and friends, and other projects hosted at Github, but could't find any that work directly with the abstract syntax tree.
Why is ...
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Is there evidence that using dynamic languages has an impact on productivity?
I am wondering if there are any experiments that show the existence or the non-existence of a correlation between usage of a dynamic language (such as Python, Ruby, or even languages that run on the ...
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Does a do-while loop suffice for Turing-completeness?
I know that, in imperative programming languages, a while-do loop is sufficient as a control flow construct to make the language Turing-complete (as far as control flow goes - of course we also need ...
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Do any programming languages use general recursive functions as their basis?
This is a naïve and, therefore, possibly malformed question, so apologies in advance!
My view is that a Turing Machine can be seen as the computational basis for procedural/imperative programming ...
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How do garbage collectors avoid stack overflow?
So I was thinking about how garbage collectors work and I thought of an interesting issue. Presumably garbage collectors have to traverse all structures in the same way. They can't know weather they ...
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Programming language where every expression makes sense
Per recommendation I am reposting this from Stack Overflow.
Recently I have been thinking about following issue.
Consider the code for a standard "Hello world!" program:
...
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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, ...
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Categorisation of type systems (strong/weak, dynamic/static)
In short: how are type systems categorised in academic contexts; particularly, where can I find reputable sources that make the distinctions between different sorts of type system clear?
In a sense ...
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What makes PROLOG Turing-complete?
I know that it can be proven PROLOG is Turing-complete by constructing a program that simulates a Turing machine like this:
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Halting problem theory vs. practice
It is often asserted that the halting problem is undecidable. And proving it is indeed trivial.
But that only applies to an arbitrary program.
Has there been any study regarding classes of programs ...
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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....
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Are modern programming languages context-free?
Which language class are today's modern programming languages like Java, JavaScript, and Python in?
It appears (?) they are not context-free and not regular languages.
Are these programming languages ...
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How do computers perform operations on numbers that are larger than 64 bits?
There are many reasons why numbers larger than 64 bits must be computed. For example, cryptographic algorithms usually have to perform operations on numbers that are 256 bits or even larger in some ...
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What are examples of inconsistency and incompleteness in Unix/C?
In Richard Gabriel's famous essay The Rise of Worse is Better, he contrasts caricatured versions of the MIT/Stanford (Lisp) and New Jersey (C/Unix) design philosophies along the axes of simplicity, ...
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What is the difference between a scripting language and a normal programming language?
What is the difference between programming language and a scripting language?
For example, consider C versus Perl.
Is the only difference that scripting languages require only the interpreter and don'...
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