Re:Minimalism in programming language design
by Someone on Tuesday May 24, 2022 @08:00PM
(#31499004)
> If your programming language is simple, then the complexity will be in the code
I think there are two different definitions of simple in programming languages: simple to implement and simple to use. Simple to use programming languages can be quite complex under the hood. Python’s bigints are an example of a relatively complex to implement feature that simplifies life for developers.
Whether language features and restrictions simplify life for developers depends on what programs they want to write, though. If you want to emulate wrap-around 32-bit unsigned integers, for example, that’s harder in python than in C.
So, whether a language is simple to use will depend on what programs developers want to write in it. Consequently, language designers should know their audience when designing a language.
I think there are two different definitions of simple in programming languages: simple to implement and simple to use. Simple to use programming languages can be quite complex under the hood. Python’s bigints are an example of a relatively complex to implement feature that simplifies life for developers.
Whether language features and restrictions simplify life for developers depends on what programs they want to write, though. If you want to emulate wrap-around 32-bit unsigned integers, for example, that’s harder in python than in C.
So, whether a language is simple to use will depend on what programs developers want to write in it. Consequently, language designers should know their audience when designing a language.