Re: What's the word for...

> Could someone please tell me what the word is for a language
> which can be written in itself?


Marco Jacques <marcoj@iro.umontreal.ca> writes:
|> I don't know if this is you're looking for, but there's the notion of a
|> reflective language. A reflective language is a language which incorporates
|> structures represting itself ( introspection ). It's possible to examine or
|> modify thoses structures. Then, it's possible to examine or modify the
|> semantics of suchs languages.


Following Tarski, a language that is capable of describing its own syntax
and semantics is called "semantically closed". There are dangers to such
languages, of course. If a language is semantically closed and the
"normal" laws of logic hold for it, it is possible to construct within it
one or more of the semantic paradoxes (Liar, Grelling-Nelson, etc.). I do
not believe that the notion of a semantically closed language is exactly
what is desired in this thread. I have the feeling that there is a good
answer somewhere in Quine's stuff (I'm thinking along the lines of
protosyntax), but I haven't had a chance to check this out yet.


--
Gary H. Merrill [Principal Systems Developer, Compiler and Tools Division]
SAS Institute Inc. / SAS Campus Dr. / Cary, NC 27513 / (919) 677-8000
sasghm@theseus.unx.sas.com ... !mcnc!sas!sasghm
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