Language Design: Evaluation Language Design & Feature Interaction Flashcards
List some examples of fully compiled languages
C, C++, Ada
List some examples of interpreted languages
Perl, Python, LISP
List some examples of hybrid languages
Java, C#
List the 3 criteria for evaluation criteria for languages
Readability
Writability
Reliability
List the 3 language characteristics
Simplicity
Expressivity
Orthogonality
T/F: the evaluation criteria for languages often compete with one another.
True
What complicates language design?
It is hard to maximize all desirable language characteristics
type checking corresponds to what evaluation criteria?
reliability
T/F: There is usually an inverse relationship between simplicity and expressivity
True
What is expressivity?
The ability to write programs that solve a range of problems with that language
what does orthogonal mean in mathematics?
perpendicular
What does orthogonal mean in regards to programming
When various language features are arranged along different axes, and all possible combinations are valid.
What is the advantage to having more features in a language?
it can make the language more expressive
What does it mean for a language to be expressive?
It is easier to write programs
too many features can cause …
undesirable feature interactions.
give an example of an interaction causing ambiguity.
type coercion of parameter X method overloading
give an example of feature interactions causing misinterpretations.
assignments are expressions X No Boolean data type, ints are used
