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Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler

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"BartC" <bcas@freeuk.com> wrote in message news:14-11-008@comp.compilers...

> (I assume this syntax would just be a front-end to a conventional language
> and conventional compiler, as your list suggests, and is not some
> super-advanced AI project that can understand anything.)
>
> Using syntax that looks like written English sounds attractive, and might be
> suitable for some kinds of command-line interaction ('kill dwarf with axe'),
> but I'm not sure it would be taken seriously for real programming.
>
> Maybe, a tool can be used to translate conventional syntax into the English
> style you propose, which would be fun, but I don't know if it warrants
> creating a whole new language. Not if it doesn't otherwise do anything new.
>

> [Back in the 1970s there was a vogue for extensible languages, in
> which you could add new syntax on the fly, by adding new BNF to the
> underlying grammar.  They all disappeared, because what happened was
> that no two programs were written in the same langauge and nobody
> could read them.  Now we have OOP, where the syntax doesn't change,
> but you can add lots of new types and semantics to go with them.
> -John]

They haven't all disappeared; there is still Seed7 (sometimes appearing in
this group).

Although this language supposedly has a user-extensible syntax, I've
never seen source examples that look like anything other than Seed7,
so perhaps my worry that everyone will invent a different look isn't
justified. (Or maybe I just haven't seen fully customised versions of
it; or haven't recognised them!)

With OOP, I don't really agree with 'language building' features being
used for everyday coding, at least not to the extent they are
available in C++ for example. It makes everything a lot more
complicated (language and compiler), and I think encourages people to
use them unnecessarily.

My point of view is a little unusual however, because I use my own
compilers, so adding a new, fully overloaded type for example, is
easily done by changing something in the compiler; that means the
ability to do that directly in the language is not a priority.

Maybe there is a need to do these things in an easier manner, but
without going so far as allowing a free-for-all as some languages do.

--
Bartc

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Writing A Plain English Compiler "Gerry Rzeppa" <gerry.rzeppa@pobox.com> - 2014-11-04 15:50 -0600
  Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler Joshua Cranmer 🐧 <Pidgeot18@verizon.net> - 2014-11-05 00:54 -0600
    Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler "Gerry Rzeppa" <gerry.rzeppa@pobox.com> - 2014-11-06 18:52 -0600
      Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler Joshua Cranmer 🐧 <Pidgeot18@verizon.net> - 2014-11-07 22:54 -0600
        Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler "Gerry Rzeppa" <gerry.rzeppa@pobox.com> - 2014-11-08 02:41 -0600
        Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler "Gerry Rzeppa" <gerry.rzeppa@pobox.com> - 2014-11-08 03:46 -0600
          Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2014-11-09 01:16 +0000
            Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler "Gerry Rzeppa" <gerry.rzeppa@pobox.com> - 2014-11-10 14:37 -0600
            Re: self-hosting, was Writing A Plain English Compiler Richard Hable <portempa@aon.at> - 2014-11-11 19:50 +0100
              Re: self-hosting, was Writing A Plain English Compiler "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2014-11-11 23:33 +0000
                Re: self-hosting, was Writing A Plain English Compiler anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-11-12 08:46 +0000
                Re: self-hosting, was Writing A Plain English Compiler "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2014-11-12 11:15 +0000
              Re: self-hosting, was Writing A Plain English Compiler anton@mips.complang.tuwien.ac.at (Anton Ertl) - 2014-11-12 08:40 +0000
    Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler "BartC" <bcas@freeuk.com> - 2014-11-07 11:36 +0000
    Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler George Neuner <gneuner2@comcast.net> - 2014-11-07 16:23 -0500
      Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler Richard Hable <portempa@aon.at> - 2014-11-08 17:22 +0100
      Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler Joshua Cranmer 🐧 <Pidgeot18@verizon.invalid> - 2014-11-08 10:48 -0600
        Re: language design models, was Writing A Plain English Compiler George Neuner <gneuner2@comcast.net> - 2014-11-09 14:30 -0500
          Re: language design models, was Writing A Plain English Compiler "Gerry Rzeppa" <gerry.rzeppa@pobox.com> - 2014-11-10 03:29 -0600
          Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler Tomasz Kowaltowski <tk@ic.unicamp.br> - 2014-11-10 09:13 -0200
            Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler "Gerry Rzeppa" <gerry.rzeppa@pobox.com> - 2014-11-10 17:19 -0600
      Re: matching tasks to languages, was Writing A Plain English Compiler Gene Wirchenko <genew@telus.net> - 2014-11-10 15:37 -0800
    Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler Martin Ward <martin@gkc.org.uk> - 2014-11-10 22:56 +0000
  Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler "BartC" <bcas@freeuk.com> - 2014-11-07 11:39 +0000
    Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler "BartC" <bc@freeuk.com> - 2014-11-08 00:35 +0000
  Fundamentals for a Compiler and Language (was: Writing A Plain English Compiler) federation2005@netzero.com - 2014-12-29 13:30 -0800

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