Re: language theory regarding Perl/Ruby in universities ?

On Feb 19, 12:12 am, A.L. <f...@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
On 18 Feb 2007 20:46:30 -0800, "surfivor" <surf...@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:



I took a programming language class as an undergrad in CS and enjoyed
the in depth analysis of language theory where we touched on
everything from Fortran, Modula 2, C, Pascal, Algol, Lisp, Ada and so
on. That was along time ago back in the late 80's.

I'd like to know if anyone has been studying language theory lately
has been learning much about Perl and Ruby

"language theory in Perl" and "language theory in Ruby" is an
oxymoron.

A.L.


Can you elaborate on that or was this discussed in an academic
setting ? If not, it seems likely it comes from a bias of some sort
from whatever perceptions one may have from various experiences. Many
languages seem to have come from humble begginings. C came from
assembly language, which was much the basis for C++. Ruby is also
object oriented and came from Perl. I believe Perl was the basis for
many CGI based programs that initially started the internet. Who can
say whether something like Ruby is or is not the crux of some other
language of the future that is yet to be devised using various idoms
from that language. At any rate, if you can't point me to articles by
college professors who have researched any of this, I couldn't come to
any real conclusion other than from my own limited experience in the
bigger picture of things. Besides that, I have never seen a language
in existence that didn't have significant weaknesses. C had loose
pointers that led to bugs which C++ inherited from C, Pascal
extensions where not well standardized, and I'm sure there are people
out there who think Lisp is the way to go.

It's been my experience that the academic world is the most usefull
place to step back and get a bigger picture of computer science. The
bussiness world is very practical, but seems to be full of biases.
There are some things you would have alot of difficulty learning about
or have insight into just from real world job experience. If it wasn't
for the academic world, the bussiness world would not be as far along
as it is, because it's not just tax breaks and money that drives high
tech, but talent straight out of colleges and univeristies.









.

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