Masterminds of Programming

Foreword

PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE DESIGN IS A FASCINATING TOPIC. There are so many programmers who think they can design a programming language better than one they are currently using; and there are so many researchers who believe they can design a programming language better than any that are in current use. Their beliefs are often justified, but few of their designs ever leave the designer’s bottom drawer. You will not find them represented in this book.

Programming language design is a serious business. Small errors in a language design can be conducive to large errors in an actual program written in the language, and even small errors in programs can have large and extremely costly consequences. The vulnerabilities of widely used software have repeatedly allowed attack by malware to cause billions of dollars of damage to the world economy. The safety and security of programming languages is a recurrent theme of this book.

Programming language design is an unpredictable adventure. Languages designed for universal application, even when supported and sponsored by vast organisations, end up sometimes in just a niche market. In contrast, languages designed for limited or local use can win a broad clientele, sometimes in environments and for applications that their designers never dreamed of. This book concentrates on languages of the latter kind.

These successful languages share a significant characteristic: each of them is the brainchild of a single person or a small team of like-minded ...