Re: language theory regarding Perl/Ruby in universities ?

On Mon, 19 Feb 2007 14:06:25 GMT, Patricia Shanahan <pats@xxxxxxx>
wrote:


"Programming language theory (commonly known as PLT) is a branch of
computer science which deals with the design, implementation, analysis,
characterization, and classification of programming languages and
programming language features."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programming_language_theory


I didn't know that this stuff was promoted to "science". Anyway, such
many things have been promoted to "science", that there is no room for
astonishment...


Your posting seems to me to be rather clear proof that it is possible to
make programming language theory statements about Ruby and Perl.


Maybe. But I personally will strongly object calling this "theory".

Of course, in an academic setting one would expect some supporting
evidence. For example, "Nothing new in any aspect" might be justified by
listing the features of Ruby, or Perl, and comparing them to features
that had appeared in programming languages prior to the language being
discussed.

And this is science?... Hmm...

A.L.
.

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