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I did not understand, very well what is a specification of a programming language and much less what is to standardize a programming language, more precisely the programming language Javascript, so my severe questions are:
What would be a specification of a language?
What it is to standardize a language?
What are the advantages and disadvantages of standardizing a language?
Are other languages standardized? If not, why?
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What would be a specification of a language?
I think it’s already explained in Specification and Implementation and How a programming language is developed?. And for the Javascript example: What is ES6 specification?. May also be useful: What is the globally accepted standard in programming languages?.
What it is to standardize a language?
I think the links above already give a good idea, but to make it clearer is to create a standard that all implementers must follow so that their products conform to the language. A group of people representing entities interested in the subject come together and determine what language is in a formal way, creating a pattern.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of standardizing a language?
If there is interest in many implementers adopting language it is important that everyone is doing more or less the same thing, of course, each in their own way, with internal details that only interest them, but that the end result, what matters to the people they will use, the product behaves in a standard and universal way. If there is no such thing people will do it in different ways and in the background the language will have dialects and the effort is fragmented.
The downside is to make some things rigid. Some decisions are not taken because not everyone agrees and language falls short of what could.
Are other languages standardized? If not, why?
Some languages are standardized formally, although most stop striving when they become de facto standards.
C# and Java are standardized (just to cite examples), or were in older versions, today there is an entity that takes care of these languages and do more or less what they want with it, even giving the chance of the community to manifest to a lesser or greater degree.
Some do so formally but within their own scope which gives less weight. In some cases they say that the standard compiler or documentation is the language standard specification.
The other languages mainstream which maintains formalism officialized by a world body are C and C++. There are other less used ones that adopt it (the list does not need).
No wonder that JS, C and C++ are kind of universal languages on the native and web platform, maybe that’s why they need more formalism.
Browser other questions tagged javascript language-design
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Thanks! clarified everything.
– user173282