Re: Low-level vs. High-level programming (was My First Computer)

["Tjoff Tjonk" <tjoff@tjonk.now>]

On Thu, 19 Jun 2003 17:09:30 -0500, Randy McLaughlin wrote:

>> (No, an HTML tag is not an instruction. There are no specified actions
>> that are taken when the HTML renderer encounters a tag - it is just a
>> way to mark-up the text. HTML tags are similar to comments in
>> programming languages in this respect.)
> 
> I will use Basic v C/C++ since basic like a browser interprets.  HTML tags
> command the interpreter (browser) that the following should be treated a
> particular way.  Does that mean that the basic statement print is just a
> tag, it just lets its interpreter know the following should be acted opon in
> a particular way.  

... and that's thing that makes HTML different from programming
languages: there are no actions, instructions or commands in HTML,
only tags that can be used to give hints to the HTML renderer. A BASIC
statement is a well-defined instruction to the compiler/interpreter to
change the state of the machine on which the code is run; there is no
such state, nor a machine in an HTML renderer.

> I agree that basic print v C/C++ writeln are processed
> totally different, but that is just the difference between a compiler v
> interpreter.

There are no fundamental differences between a compiler and an
interpreter; it is possible to write a BASIC compiler, and it is
possible to write a C or C++ interpreter.

> Do you recogzie that a 100 year-old loom can be programmed via
> punch cards?  Are the people who create the cards no programmers?  Re-read
> the definition it is short is is english it does use simple enough words.

There are millions of programming languages and machines on which
programs can be executed. It does not change the fact that HTML is not a
programming language, though.