Objectives
1.1 Reasons for Studying Concepts of Programming Languages 1.2 Programming Domains
1.3 Language Evaluation Criteria
1.4 Influences on Language Design
1.5 Language Categories
1.6 Implementation Methods 1.8 Programming Environments
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 Evaluation Criteria: Writability o Simplicity and orthogonality
- Few constructs, a small number of primitives, a small set of rules for combining them
o Support for abstraction
- The ability to define and use complex structures or
operations in ways that allow details to be ignored
o Expressivity
- A set of relatively convenient ways of specifying operations
- Strength and number of operators and predefined functions
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 Evaluation Criteria: Readability (2 of 2) o Data types
- Adequate predefined data types
o Syntax considerations
- Identifier forms: flexible composition
- Special words and methods of forming compound statements
- Form and meaning: self-descriptive constructs, meaningful keywords
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 Programming Domains (2 of 2) o Artificial intelligence
- Symbols rather than numbers manipulated; use of linked lists
- LISP
o Systems programming
- Need efficiency because of continuous use -C
o Web Software
- Eclectic collection of languages: markup (e.g., HTML),
scripting (e.g., PHP), general-purpose (e.g., Java)
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 Reasons for Studying Concepts of Programming Languages
o Increased ability to express ideas
o Improved background for choosing appropriate
languages
o Increased ability to learn new languages
o Better understanding of significance of implementation
o Better use of languages that are already known
o Overall advancement of computing
 Copyright (C) 2016, 2013, 2010 Pearson Education, Inc.- A manageable set of features and constructs - Minimal feature multiplicity
- Minimal operator overloading
o Orthogonality
- A relatively small set of primitive constructs can be
combined in a relatively small number of ways
- Every possible combination is legal
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 Programming Domains (1 of 2) o Scientific applications
- Large numbers of floating point computations; use of arrays
- Fortran
o Business applications
- Produce reports, use decimal numbers and characters - COBOL
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 Language Evaluation Criteria
o Readability: the ease with which programs can be read and understood
o Writability: the ease with which a language can be used to create programs
o Reliability: conformance to specifications (i.e., performs to its specifications)
o Cost: the ultimate total cost
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 Evaluation Criteria: Readability (1 of 2) o Overall simplicity
The overall simplicity of a programming language strongly affects its readability.