Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation?

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From	"minf...@arcor.de" <minforth@arcor.de>
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Subject	Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation?
Date	Mon, 14 Nov 2022 05:14:29 -0800 (PST)
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Thomas Koenig schrieb am Sonntag, 9. Oktober 2022 um 02:20:13 UTC+2:
> Christopher F Clark <christoph...@compiler-resources.com> schrieb:
> > I answered this question on Quora, but I think it is relevant to this
> > community (and I know I'll get discussion as a result)..
> >
> > What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation.
> >  ...

> If ease of language implementation is the primary concern, then
> one could use a stack-based language. Easy to write an interpreter
> or compiler for, hard to write in the language itself, so it will
> likely be very unpopular (but popularity wasn't in the list of
> requirements).
> > Have a very simple set of types. BASIC had numbers, strings, and arrays.
> > Don't worry about type conversions and floating point versus integer. Sweep
> > that all under the rug.
> You cannot "sweep it under the rug", you have to define the semantics
> somewhere. It is possible to define the semantics ad-hoc and not to
> document them (which you seem to be advocating). That is a recipe
> for problems later.
> > Whatever your implementation does, that's what it
> > does. (Even simpler is what a lot of shells do, you have just "strings" and
> > if the strings happen to be a number when you pass them to the "add
> > function", + operator, it does arithmetic. If they aren't it, whatever it
> > does is the definition.)
> That strikes me as a bad idea if the language is supposed to be
> used for something in the real world. Ill-defined semantics are
> a disservice to potential users (but not laying traps for the user
> was not on the list of requirements, either).
>
> [...]
> [Sounds like we're on our way to reinventing Forth. It had (still has)
> famously tiny implementations. -John]

Reinventing old wheels is not much fun. But use Forth as your toolbox
to make your own DSL and you can go _very_ far without diving into
all those dragon books and gigabyte compilers and toolsets.

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What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? Christopher F Clark <christopher.f.clark@compiler-resources.com> - 2022-09-30 12:46 +0100
  Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? Martin Ward <martin@gkc.org.uk> - 2022-10-01 15:56 +0100
    Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? gah4 <gah4@u.washington.edu> - 2022-10-01 17:05 -0700
      Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? gah4 <gah4@u.washington.edu> - 2022-10-02 00:11 -0700
      Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? "Robin Vowels" <robin51@dodo.com.au> - 2022-10-03 12:34 +1100
        Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? robin51@dodo.com.au - 2022-10-03 15:59 +1100
          Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? gah4 <gah4@u.washington.edu> - 2022-10-03 12:28 -0700
    Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? Christopher F Clark <christopher.f.clark@compiler-resources.com> - 2022-10-02 01:21 +0100
  Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? Thomas Koenig <tkoenig@netcologne.de> - 2022-10-08 22:44 +0000
    Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? "minf...@arcor.de" <minforth@arcor.de> - 2022-11-14 05:14 -0800
      Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? gah4 <gah4@u.washington.edu> - 2022-11-15 06:09 -0800
    RE: Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? Roger L Costello <costello@mitre.org> - 2022-11-15 11:52 +0000
      Re: Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? <minforth@arcor.de> - 2022-11-15 09:48 -0800
        Re: Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? RPN? gah4 <gah4@u.washington.edu> - 2022-11-15 16:11 -0800
          Re: Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? RPN? "minf...@arcor.de" <minforth@arcor.de> - 2022-11-16 04:54 -0800
            Re: Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? RPN? "minf...@arcor.de" <minforth@arcor.de> - 2022-11-16 05:39 -0800
          Re: Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation? RPN? anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2022-11-16 18:12 +0000

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