December 2021
Beginner
840 pages
47h 29m
English
Content preview from Programming Languages: Concepts and Implementation
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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 ...