Re: what is a programming language?

Joel
Programming languages are simply sets of instructions that make a computer do something for you. In the same way that different spoken languages contain unique rules (grammar) and spelling as well as unwritten paradigms, so do computer languages. Different languages can be used to say or do the same things but the complexity and nuances can have wildly different results.

Take for example British and American English. If an American were to say "Have a nice day" it is meant literally, but the same phrase in Britain may well be a deep insult along the lines of `may you live in interesting times'. My point being that in two programming languages the same command may do different things.

A classic example is the `simple' test IF A=B THEN do_this In different langauges this has unexpected results.

Each language has its own grammar and is designed for specific jobs. PERL is a superb text manipulator. FORTRAN is for scientists, COBOL for Financial systems, C for "real men" and the likes of FORTH was designed to control Radio Telecopes.

Typically a language must have a way of storing data, in variables, and testing that data against something. Similarly they must have ways of repeating a test until it is true, or not and then sending the data to the user in a human readable, or meaningful, way. A full discussion of this would easily take a full book.

Please E-Mail if you want further clarification or examples.