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Good post, in particular splitting out the differences between explicit syntax vs expressive syntax. I myself am quite fond of expressive formal systems, but eq
by bordercases 9y ago
Good post, in particular splitting out the differences between explicit syntax vs expressive syntax. I myself am quite fond of expressive formal systems, but equivalently useful explicit systems are much easier to pick up even if their ruleset is larger. One has hack-y corner cases but generally keeps you on the rails, the other has the hacks as the rails and expects you to not fuck up where you're going. Or something like that.
- zmonx 9y agoThank you! I found the following chart useful: *) machine and assembly languages: simple syntax, simple semantics *) procedural languages: complex syntax, AST not available, many language constructs *) Smalltalk, LISP, Prolog: AST available, few language constructs Source: http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/ulrich/prolog2009.pdf http://www.complang.tuwien.ac.at/ulrich/prolog2009.pdf
- bordercases 9y agoWell now I must definitely use Smalltalk!
- zmonx 9y agoIt's definitely worth a look! Richard O'Keefe, one of the most highly regarded and accomplished Prolog programmers, even wrote his own Smalltalk implementation too: http://www.cs.otago.ac.nz/staffpriv/ok/software.htm http://www.cs.otago.ac.nz/staffpriv/ok/software.htm