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Programming Language

The document provides an introduction to programming linguistics. It discusses key concepts including syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and language processors. It also covers programming paradigms such as imperative, object-oriented, functional, and logic programming. Finally, it presents the historical development of programming languages from the 1950s to the 2000s, including important languages from each paradigm such as Fortran, Lisp, Algol, Simula, Smalltalk, C, Ada, Haskell, Java and C#.

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Doaa Elsayed
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42 views9 pages

Programming Language

The document provides an introduction to programming linguistics. It discusses key concepts including syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and language processors. It also covers programming paradigms such as imperative, object-oriented, functional, and logic programming. Finally, it presents the historical development of programming languages from the 1950s to the 2000s, including important languages from each paradigm such as Fortran, Lisp, Algol, Simula, Smalltalk, C, Ada, Haskell, Java and C#.

Uploaded by

Doaa Elsayed
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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1

Introduction

▪ Programming linguistics:
• concepts and paradigms
• syntax, semantics, and pragmatics
• language processors.

▪ Historical development of programming languages and


paradigms.

© 2004, D.A. Watt, University of Glasgow 1-1


Programming linguistics

▪ Programming linguistics is the study of programming


languages (PLs).
▪ This is by analogy with linguistics, the study of natural
languages (NLs):
• Both PLs and NLs have syntax (form) and semantics (meaning).

▪ However, NLs are far broader, more expressive, and more


subtle than PLs.
▪ Also, linguists are limited to studying existing NLs.
Computing scientists can design, specify, and implement
new PLs.
1-2
Properties

▪ A PL must be universal – capable of expressing any


computation.
• A language without iteration or recursion is not universal.
• A language of recursive functions (and nothing else) is universal.

▪ A PL should be reasonably natural for expressing


computations in its intended application area.
▪ A PL must be implementable – it must be possible to run
every program on a computer.
▪ A PL should be capable of acceptably efficient
implementation.
1-3
Concepts

▪ Concepts are building blocks of programs and PLs:


• values and types
• variables and storage
• bindings and scope
• procedural abstraction
• data abstraction
• generic abstraction (not covered in this course)
• concurrency (not covered in this course).

1-4
Paradigms

▪ A paradigm is a style of programming, characterized by a


particular selection of key concepts.
▪ Imperative programming: variables, commands,
procedures.
▪ Object-oriented (OO) programming: objects, methods,
classes.
▪ Concurrent programming: processes, communication.
▪ Functional programming: values, expressions, functions.
▪ Logic programming: assertions, relations.
1-5
Syntax, semantics, and pragmatics

▪ A PL’s syntax is concerned with the form of programs:


how expressions, commands, declarations, and other
constructs must be arranged to make a well-formed
program.
▪ A PL’s semantics is concerned with the meaning of (well-
formed) programs: how a program may be expected to
behave when executed on a computer.
▪ A PL’s pragmatics is concerned with the way in which the
PL is intended to be used in practice. Pragmatics include
the paradigm(s) supported by the PL.

1-6
Language processors

▪ A language processor is a system for processing programs


– either executing them or preparing them for execution.
▪ Language processors include:
• compilers
• interpreters
• source-code editors
• symbolic debuggers.

1-7
Historical development (1)

1955
Fortran
Lisp
Algol60 Cobol 1960

1965
PL/I
Simula
Algol68
Pascal 1970
Smalltalk
C 1975
Modula
ML
1980
Ada83
C++ 1985
OO imperative concurrent functional
1-8
Historical development (2)

1980
Ada83
C++ 1985

Haskell 1990

Ada95 1995
Java

C# 2000

2005
OO imperative concurrent functional

1-9

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