1.3 The World of Programming Languages
1.3.1 Fundamental Questions
This text is about programming language concepts. In preparation for a study of language concepts, we must examine some fundamental questions:
What is a language (not necessarily a programming language)? A language is simply a medium of communication (e.g., a whale’s song).
What is a program? A program is a set of instructions that a computer understands and follows.
What is a programming language? A programming language is a system of data-manipulation rules for describing computation.
What is a programming language concept? It is best defined by example. Perhaps the language concept that resonates most keenly with readers at this point in their formal study of computer science ...
Get Programming Languages: Concepts and Implementation now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
