What Languages Fix
Kevin Kelleher suggested an interesting way to compare programming languages: to describe each in terms of the problem it fixes. The surprising thing is how many, and how well, languages can be described this way. Algol: Assembly language is too low-level.Pascal: Algol doesn't have enough data types.Modula: Pascal is too wimpy for systems programming.
- ▪Kevin Kelleher suggested an interesting way to compare programming languages: to describe each in terms of the problem it fixes.
- ▪The surprising thing is how many, and how well, languages can be described this way.
- ▪Algol: Assembly language is too low-level.Pascal: Algol doesn't have enough data types.Modula: Pascal is too wimpy for systems programming.
Paul Graham — Essays files mainly under blogs. We currently carry 219 of its stories.
Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Kevin Kelleher suggested an interesting way to compare programming languages: to describe each in terms of the problem it fixes. The surprising thing is how many, and how well, languages can be described this way. Algol: Assembly language is too low-level.Pascal: Algol doesn't have enough data types.Modula: Pascal is too wimpy for systems programming. Simula: Algol isn't good enough at simulations.Smalltalk: Not everything in Simula is an object.Fortran: Assembly language is too low-level.Cobol: Fortran is scary.PL/1: Fortran doesn't have enough data types.Ada: Every existing language is missing something.Basic: Fortran is scary.APL: Fortran isn't good enough at manipulating arrays.J: APL requires its own character set.C: Assembly language is too low-level.C++: C is too low-level.Java:…
Excerpt limited to ~120 words for fair-use compliance. The full article is at Paul Graham — Essays.