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

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

On Wed, 18 Jun 2003 15:52:55 -0500, Randy McLaughlin wrote:

> "Tjoff Tjonk" <tjoff@tjonk.now> wrote in message
> pan.2003.06.18.19.07.35.727341@tjonk.now">news:pan.2003.06.18.19.07.35.727341@tjonk.now...
>> On Wed, 18 Jun 2003 14:33:55 -0500, Randy McLaughlin wrote:
>> >> HTML doesn't describe computation - it's a markup language for web
> pages;
>> >> what exactly did you mean?  JavaScript?  ASP?
>> >
>> > HTML is programming, just as CP/M's sub files, dos bat files , IBM's old
>> > JCL, Unix script files, etc.
>>
>> Randy... HTML is as much programming as English text is programming. HTML
>> does not describe computation - it is a markup language for web pages.
>>
>> > There are plenty of every day tasks that are programs.  A program is a
>> > defined "automatic" task.
>>
>> How do you write an automatic task in HTML? (Hint: you can't :-)
> 
> The automatic task is in describing to the client the tasks to display the
> page the HTML code describes.  Like it or not it is a program.  The first
> program people tend to learn is the "hello" program:  Just a program that
> prints hello to the console.  The first HTML code anyone learns is just a
> simple.  HTML is a limited "language", but it does contain enough structure
> to be a language.  If we carry your logic through then nothing can be a
> program that does not take two weeks to rewire our eniacs.

Please Randy, tell us how to make arithmetic computation, conditional
statements and loops in HTML...

> Many computer languages were created to bring the concept of simple English
> to programming.  It has been an evolution with many strange mutations, but
> computer languages continue to be created, HTML is just a small but useful
> language for the GUI web environment.

It is a mark-up language, not a programming language.