Most voted "language-design" questions
Use this tag in questions about the design of new programming languages (general-purpose, domain-specific - DSL, data exchange, etc.). See also the compiler-project tag. If your question is about some feature (Feature) of an existing language, use the characteristic-language tag.
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46
votes2
answers3637
viewsThe first programming language
Until the time when computers were purely mechanics and were programmed by punch cards I understand how it works. Later, when the first "digital" computers operated with valves and relays appeared,…
assembly compilers language-design computer-theoryasked 7 years, 8 months ago Michael Pacheco 1,657 -
40
votes1
answer9859
viewsHow is a programming language developed?
How a programming language is created? In general terms, where and how the validation of the functionalities of the new language works? For example, we have the C++ language, it is complex and has a…
characteristic-language language-independent language-designasked 8 years, 2 months ago João Victor Gomes Moreira 1,968 -
39
votes3
answers2857
viewsWhat characterizes a programming language?
A long time ago I saw in the laboratory a "program" called POV-Ray and a doubt prompted me. The teacher said it is a "programming language" and argued, now it has source code, syntax, semantics and…
characteristic-language terminology language-independent language-designasked 8 years, 6 months ago SneepS NinjA 7,691 -
34
votes4
answers2538
viewsShould exceptions be used for flow control?
When I studied Java, I learned that exceptions should only be used in situations, well, "exceptional" (i.e. an error, an unforeseen condition, etc), never for normal flow control. Not only because…
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31
votes6
answers3667
viewsAre there objective advantages to a language being "case sensitive" or not?
Or is this just taste? I don’t want to if you like one more than the other. I don’t care why people like one or the other. I don’t want any bad answers. I don’t want to know historical reasons. I…
encoding-style language-design case-insensitive cash-sensitivityasked 8 years, 11 months ago Maniero 444,682 -
20
votes8
answers17275
viewsDifference between while and for
What’s the difference between while and for, if the two are loops of repetition, if with the two I can do the same things either conditioning a halt or iterations of variable, because there are…
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17
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answers1365
viewsShould I use a parser generator or should I develop my own code to do "parse" and "lex"?
Obviously the question should not be interpreted "to the letter". I do not want anyone to decide for me, I need to know the perks and disadvantages to use one method or the other. When should I wear…
parser compiler-project lexical-analysis language-designasked 10 years, 5 months ago Maniero 444,682 -
17
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answer5166
viewsWhat are the reasons to choose between camelCase and Pascalcase in method names?
First, I’m not interested in what you like best or what you use in your language, I want to know the motivation to choose one or the other pattern in a hypothetical language. Second, this is a bit…
characteristic-language method encoding-style ux language-designasked 5 years, 1 month ago Maniero 444,682 -
16
votes3
answers568
viewsIs there an advantage to an explicit "self" instead of the implicit "this"?
Unlike most [most popular] object-oriented languages, which use a keyword to refer to the object that is "target" of a method call (commonly called this), the Python language requires every method…
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13
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answers1435
viewsA game-specific programming language
Is there any programming language specific for the development of video games? A language that is high-performance optimized to use media processing instructions, which is linked to GPU? I know a…
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13
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answer333
viewsWhy are arrays covariant and generic are invariant?
Arrays in Java are covariant, that is, it’s perfectly cool to do something like: Number[] meuArray = new Integer[10]; Generic types are invariant. The line below does not compile: List<Number>…
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13
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answer515
viewsIs scripting language always built on another language?
I was reading more about what characterizes a language of script. Namely: What is a scripting language? And the question itself quotes the languages I know of script PHP, Python and Ruby, possibly…
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11
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answers409
viewsWould it be necessary to have another programming language to create the Assembler?
Would it be necessary to have another programming language to create the Assembler? If so, which one? If not, what could you do to get started? I know that according to the years, right after the…
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8
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answer122
viewsA bit mask can/should be typed?
In most programming languages, when you want to create a bit mask you usually use an integer type and operations bitwise (and, or, xor, not, shift left, shift right...). However, although nothing…
language-designasked 8 years, 10 months ago mgibsonbr 80,631 -
6
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answer346
viewsWhat would be the standardization and specification of a programming language?
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…
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answer111
viewsWhy don’t booleans have a common class in Ruby?
Ruby doesn’t have a class Boolean. I realized that boolean objects are of specific classes depending on the value, see: true.class => TrueClass false.class => FalseClass Different from other…
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answers113
viewsWhat’s wrong with Java?
What are the problems and limitations of Java? You can work out Java, but with thoughtfulness and knowledge of the cause, without being carried away by the emotional. Preferably citing which…
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answer72
viewsHow to create a dialog tree with a custom language in C#
I created a dialogue creation language for a game, but at the stage where I analyze recursion, it is always generated incorrectly. The syntax looks like this:…
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answer93
viewsWhat would be the Zig language?
What is Zig? And what is it for? Is this a new version of Rust? 'Cause it looks a lot like Rust. It’s a clone? It’s better than C/C++?
terminology characteristic-language language-designasked 3 years, 4 months ago Matheus C. França 109 -
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answer74
viewsHow to "launch" a new programming language
I’ve always been interested in how the dark side of languages was ,how they worked and work ,how they are on the inside ,and now that I know I’m creating my own basic good ,because I don’t have a…
language-designasked 6 years, 4 months ago AndronCreation 193