Re: What attributes of a programming language simplify its use?

gah4 <gah4@u.washington.edu> schrieb:
> We had the "What attributes of a programming language simplify its implementation?" discussion.
>
> It seems, though, that languages are implemented a small number of
> times, and used many times. So, designing for ease of use, instead of
> ease of implementation makes more sense.


Very much so.


> (Especially if you want a lot of people to want to use it.)
>
> One feature that I find makes them easier to use, and harder to
> implement, is no reserved words.


I think this is more a matter of extensibility than of ease of use,
but both are somewhat intertwined.


Adding a new reserved word is a breaking change, especially if that
word is often used. See "new" in C++, which was something reasonable
to use in C, and is reserved in C++.


The life cycle of a programming language will have many revisions (if
it is successful, that is), and not having reserved keywords certainly
helps in two aspects: Existing user programs will continue to work,
and new features can be added in a way that is easier to read than
having to add special characters, so a new feature looks like a cat
walked over the keyboard, with capslock on.


Yes, this is a bit more pain for compiler writers, but far less than,
let's say, having to deal with SIMD.
[There's also the perl approach where you put a "use" at the top of the
program file saying which version of the language you want. -John]

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