Questions involving the design and structure of programming languages.
2
votes
1answer
126 views
+100
How to make support for bindings for a scripting language
Main
I'm making a scripting language using C++. I plan to use it with a simple test game editor. But I have to make a support for bindings to call game engine's nodes' methods to update positions, ...
26
votes
12answers
3k views
Why is 0 false?
This question may sound dumb, but why does 0 evaluates to false and any other [integer] value to true is most of programming languages?
String comparison
Since the question seems a little bit too ...
43
votes
12answers
4k views
Did the developers of Java consciously abandon RAII?
As a long-time C# programmer, I have recently come to learn more about the advantages of Resource Acquisition Is Initialization (RAII). In particular, I have discovered that the C# idiom:
using (var ...
1
vote
1answer
175 views
How much inconsistency arises from Javascript's high flexibility?
I'll admit it, I haven't yet mastered the language, but my experience with it tells me that Javascript is a highly flexible language, allowing prototypal inheritance, dynamic typing, functions as ...
9
votes
1answer
357 views
How does Go improve productivity with “implicit” interfaces, and how does that compare with C#'s notion of Extension Methods?
In the Go Language Tutorial, they explain how interfaces work:
Go does not have classes. However, you can define methods on struct types. The method receiver appears in its own argument list ...
31
votes
2answers
1k views
Why do bitwise operators have lower priority than comparisons?
Could someone explain the rationale, why in a bunch of most popular languages (see note below) comparison operators (==, !=, <, >, <=, >=) have higher priority than bitwise operators (&, |, ...
4
votes
1answer
249 views
Is it possible to write a code without class methods, globals, and class variables? [closed]
I'm designing my own programming language for fun, and I'm thinking of making it fully Object-oriented (no statics, no globals, no class variables, no class methods), so I need to find a way to ...
3
votes
3answers
444 views
Why did Apple choose to design its programming language with future and past tense method names?
There are a lot of methods like this in iOS/Objective C:
- viewDidLoad
- viewWillAppear:
- applicationDidFinishLaunching
I've just been having a discussion with some colleagues about this design ...
7
votes
3answers
556 views
Why there are no compound assignment operators for logical operators (such as ||, && etc)?
According to ECMA-262, part 11.13, following is the exhaustive list of compound assignment operators: *= /= %= += -= <<= >>= >>>= &= ^= |=.
According to the part 11.11, var c ...
18
votes
8answers
2k views
Why is String immutable in Java?
I couldn't understand the reason of it. I always use String class like other developers, but when I modify the value of it, I need to create new instance of String.
What might be the reason of ...
17
votes
4answers
843 views
Why doesn't C# have local scope in case blocks?
I was writing this code:
private static Expression<Func<Binding, bool>> ToExpression(BindingCriterion criterion)
{
switch (criterion.ChangeAction)
{
case ...
7
votes
10answers
734 views
A better way of doing Regex? [duplicate]
I really dislike regular expressions, each time I come back to it I seem to have to relearn it. It's also incredibly hard to maintain, modify and at a glance understand what it is doing.
Has anyone ...
1
vote
2answers
254 views
Why does JavaScript count array lengths by the last index?
JavaScript seems to calculate the array length property by the number of the last index in the array rather than counting the number of items in the array. Example:
var testArray = ['a', 'b', 'c'];
...
1
vote
2answers
163 views
Should I use a formal grammar for my interpreted scripting language
I have a scripting engine I just published as an open source project. It's been sitting on my harddrive waiting for about a year. My engine of course isn't complete in any way, but it does work for ...
1
vote
4answers
612 views
Why many programming languages have only 2 data-structures: arrays and hashes?
Many programming languages have only those 2 structures, and even some languages that have more structures still only provide special syntax for those 2; usually, [] and {}. Why is this? Is there ...
22
votes
2answers
3k views
Why is 'void' not allowed as a generic type in C#
What were the design decisions that argued in favour of void not being constructable and not being allowed as a generic type? After all it is just a special empty struct and would have avoided the ...
4
votes
10answers
940 views
KISS principle applied to programming language design?
KISS ("keep it simple, stupid" or "keep it simple stupid", see e.g. here) is an important principle in software development, even though it apparently originated in engineering. Citing from the ...
5
votes
2answers
298 views
Alternative Scripting Language to Lua?
I would like to add scripting support to an applications and with plenty scripting languages available I am a bit overwhelmed.
At first I thought about Python but I guess Python is a little too big ...
-3
votes
1answer
151 views
how is developing apps for windows phone 8 is different from windows phone 7.x?
what has changed with regards to the design patterns ? do both use the same development techniques ? if I'm faced with the option of learning windows-phone 7 VS 8 will learning windows phone 7 will ...
11
votes
3answers
359 views
How to implement lazy evaluation of if()
I am currently implementing an expression evaluator (single line expressions, like formulas) based on the following:
the entered expression is tokenized to separate literal booleans, integers, ...
61
votes
8answers
13k views
How were some language communities (eg, Ruby and Python) able to prevent fragmentation while others (eg, Lisp or ML) were not?
The term "Lisp" (or "Lisp-like") is an umbrella for lots of different languages, such as Common Lisp, Scheme, and Arc. There is similar fragmentation in other language communities, like in ML.
...
27
votes
10answers
1k views
What mistakes do language writers often make which doom their language? [closed]
Are there common mistakes that language creators make that prevent or slow the adoption of their language? An example (though perhaps not a good one): they focus more on language semantics than tool ...
9
votes
4answers
905 views
Is garbage collection needed for implementing safe closures?
I recently attended an online course on programming languages in which, among other concepts, closures were presented. I write down two examples inspired by this course to give some context before ...
10
votes
8answers
926 views
Why aren't design patterns added to the languages constructs?
Recently I was talking with a colleague who mentioned that his company was working on adding the MVC design pattern as a PHP extension.
He explained that they wrote C code for adding Controllers, ...
20
votes
11answers
1k views
Is there a language out there in which parameters are placed inside method name?
in JavaScript:
function getTopCustomersOfTheYear(howManyCustomers, whichYear) {
// Some code here.
}
getTopCustomersOfTheYear(50, 2010);
in C#:
public List<Customer> ...
6
votes
4answers
387 views
Backquoted symbols, good or bad?
I'm designing a programming language which has three kinds of quoted entities: strings and characters as in C, and symbols (interned strings intended for use as lookup keys and such) which I consider ...
9
votes
4answers
506 views
Literate programming, good/bad design methodology
I have recently found the concept of literate programming. And I found it rather intriguing. Yet I have not been encountered with claims that it is a bad way to structure a program. It seems not ...
20
votes
8answers
12k views
Why use partial classes?
In my understanding, the partial keyword does nothing but allow a class to be split between several source files. Is there any reason to do this other than for code organization? I've seen it used for ...
1
vote
6answers
615 views
why no hasLock/testLock on mutexes
looking through the docs of posix' pthread_mutex_t and window's mutex and CRITICAL_SECTION I noticed there is no easy way of checking whether the current thread holds a specific mutex
posix' ...
9
votes
2answers
601 views
How does C++ handle multiple inheritance with a shared common ancestor?
I'm not a C++ guy, but I'm forced to think about this. Why is multiple inheritance possible in C++, but not in C#? (I know of the diamond problem, but that's not what I'm asking here). How does C++ ...
2
votes
6answers
759 views
Why is an interface in Java not allowed to have state? [closed]
There must be a good reason why Java designers didn't allow any state to be defined in interfaces . Can you please throw some light on this aspect of design decision ?
41
votes
10answers
2k views
I've been told that Exceptions should only be used in exceptional cases. How do I know if my case is exceptional?
My specific case here is that the user can pass in a string into the application, the application parses it and assigns it to structured objects. Sometimes the user may type in something invalid. ...
12
votes
4answers
790 views
Why exactly can't PHP have full unicode support?
Everybody knows, that PHP has problems with Unicode. Version 6 is effectively abandoned, because of Unicode implementation difficulties. But I wonder if anyone knows what are the exact reasons? ...
9
votes
5answers
638 views
First Class Functions
I started seriously taking a look at Lisp this weekend (by which I mean I have only been learning Lisp and not reverting back to projects in C#) and must say I love it. I have dabbled with other ...
0
votes
3answers
530 views
Is function overloading in general considered Evil? [closed]
Recently I found about two new programming languages(Vala and google's GO) which don't support method or function overloading and intend on not supporting them in the future ever! The creators of ...
11
votes
10answers
1k views
Function overloading? Yes or no [closed]
I'm developing a statically- and strongly-typed, compiled language, and I'm revisiting the idea of whether to include function overloading as a language feature. I realized that I'm a little bit ...
30
votes
4answers
2k views
Why don't languages include implication as a logical operator?
It might be a strange question, but why there is no implication as a logical operator in many languages (Java, C, C++, Python Haskell - although as last one have user defined operators its trivial to ...
2
votes
1answer
51 views
Documentation Generation - FiM++
This is a question I originally asked on Stack Overflow, but as a conceptual design question as opposed to a technical issue, I believe it may be more appropriate, or possibly have alternate parallel ...
-2
votes
1answer
190 views
Teaching English Grammar to a computer/software? [closed]
This Q may seem wierd, but I was stumbling by a thought of how can I teach a Computer a particular human language?? I am planning on a project where in a computer would, like any small human kid, be ...
14
votes
3answers
816 views
Java and .NET: Why different sorting algorithms are used by default?
Just wondering why Java and .NET Framework uses different sorting algorithm by default.
In Java Array.Sort() uses Merge Sort algorithm by default and as Wikipedia.com says:
In Java, the ...
16
votes
4answers
2k views
Why do iterators in Python raise an exception?
Here's the syntax for iterators in Java (somewhat similar syntax in C#):
Iterator it = sequence.iterator();
while (it.hasNext()) {
System.out.println(it.next());
}
Which makes sense. Here's ...
11
votes
2answers
837 views
Advantages and disadvantages of structuring all code via classes and compiling to classes (like Java)
Edit: my language allows for multiple inheritance, unlike Java.
I've started designing and developing my own programming language for educational, recreational, and potentially useful purposes.
At ...
5
votes
1answer
242 views
Why can't java generics be in arrays?
Why is it that when I try to make an array of ArrayLists: ArrayList<Integer>[] arr=new ArrayList<Integer>[40]; there is an error and java does not allow this?
Is there a reason related to ...
4
votes
8answers
766 views
Is true multithreading really necessary?
So yeah, I'm creating a programming language. And the language allows multiple threads. But, all threads are synchronized with a global interpreter lock, which means only one thread is allowed to ...
18
votes
9answers
1k views
Are there any programming languages that follow a minimalist development approach?
I find it that when languages are considered the same as commercial software, there is always a constant need to add new features to justify new releases.
Can there be or are there languages where ...
4
votes
3answers
548 views
Why was GOTO included in PHP 5? [closed]
I discovered some time ago that the GOTO control keyword was introduced in PHP 5.3.0.
http://php.net/manual/en/control-structures.goto.php
Why did it happen?
What are the language design goals ...
2
votes
2answers
596 views
What is the reason behind the if syntax of CoffeeScript?
In most other languages the condition comes before the statement to be executed when the condition is met. However, in CoffeeScript (and maybe some other languages) the syntax is:
number = -42 if ...
5
votes
1answer
583 views
What's the problem with Scala's XML literals?
In this post, Martin (the language's head honcho) writes:
[XML literals] Seemed a great idea at the
time, now it sticks out like a sore thumb. I believe with the new
string interpolation ...
6
votes
4answers
464 views
Could a programming language work as well without statements?
As programming in JavaScript, I've noticed everything that can be done with statements and blocks can be done with expressions alone. Can a programming language work fine with only expressions? And, ...
3
votes
1answer
188 views
What is a real-world use case of using a Chomsky Type-I (context-sensitive) grammar
I have been having some fun lately exploring the development of language parsers in the context of how they fit into the Chomsky Hierarchy.
What is a good real-world (ie not theoretical) example of a ...
