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The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 4:54 pm
by ketamine
Now here’s a deep one for you:

We all know off C++ / HTML / Java / Visual BASIC etc …

But… behind the scenes of the script we learn, there’s some other code (in the compiler program) translating that code into the “real” code that tells the computer what to do …

So take C++ for instance. We all know the “IF/ELSE/THEN” type statements. BUT… WHO AT WHAT COMPANY DECIDED THAT THOSE WORDS WOULD MEAN WHAT THEY MEAN AND HOW THEY WOULD ACT????

WHO WRITES THE CODE FOR CODING LANGUAGES????

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 4:56 pm
by kier3wiet
God...?


:6:

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 4:57 pm
by pkay
likely the english meaning of if, else, and then had something to do with it

if you're asking who wrote C then that was Stroustrup. So he initially dictated what went into the C language

Now you can dictate your own library and libraries can evolve.... so form and function decide from here on out

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 4:58 pm
by JBoy
Cue a wikipedia article from parson.

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 4:58 pm
by lyons238

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:00 pm
by ketamine
pkay wrote:likely the english meaning of if, else, and then had something to do with it

if you're asking who wrote C then that was Stroustrup. So he initially dictated what went into the C language
Right. I have no problem finding who defines languages, or originated them. Like I know HTML is “governed” by mysterious “Standards Organizations” who put in syntax, and take out syntax between versions, I’m asking WHAT LANGUAGE are CODING languages written in?

How did Stroustrup MAKE “C”

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:07 pm
by collige
ketamine wrote:
pkay wrote:likely the english meaning of if, else, and then had something to do with it

if you're asking who wrote C then that was Stroustrup. So he initially dictated what went into the C language
Right. I have no problem finding who defines languages, or originated them. Like I know HTML is “governed” by mysterious “Standards Organizations” who put in syntax, and take out syntax between versions, I’m asking WHAT LANGUAGE are CODING languages written in?

How did Stroustrup MAKE “C”
Assembly language, I assume since that's what C compiles into. Other high-level languages were probably written in C. You have to understand that for programming languages, the only thing that defines a "language" in any real way is the compiler/interpreter (because that's what enforces the syntax), which can be written in anything. I read somewhere that it's possible to write the compiler for a language in the language that it compiles. :-o

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:08 pm
by collige
Also, C was made by Kernighan and Ritchie. C++ was Stroustrup.

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:09 pm
by wormcode
Machine code? That's when it gets down to binary and meaningless strings of letters (as opposed to if then else).
Assembly/ASM is probably the lowest level language there is, or at least the most widely used.

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:11 pm
by ketamine
collige wrote:
ketamine wrote:
pkay wrote:likely the english meaning of if, else, and then had something to do with it

if you're asking who wrote C then that was Stroustrup. So he initially dictated what went into the C language
Right. I have no problem finding who defines languages, or originated them. Like I know HTML is “governed” by mysterious “Standards Organizations” who put in syntax, and take out syntax between versions, I’m asking WHAT LANGUAGE are CODING languages written in?

How did Stroustrup MAKE “C”
Assembly language, I assume since that's what C compiles into. Other high-level languages were probably written in C. You have to understand that for programming languages, the only thing that defines a "language" in any real way is the compiler/interpreter (because that's what enforces the syntax), which can be written in anything. I read somewhere that it's possible to write the compiler for a language in the language that it compiles. :-o
THANK YOU! Now I can read up on Assembly Language. I knew there had to be something else… And I believe you, that, possible HTML and all the rest are C/C++…

This worm-hole goes deep. The guys that code AL or Machine Code must be NASA level genius

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:12 pm
by pkay
the answer you're looking for roughly is Unix. C/C++ were designed initially to speak to the unix operating system. Then you're going to ask well what language does unix speak (or did) and Collige touched on that

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:12 pm
by ketamine
wormcode wrote:Machine code? That's when it gets down to binary and meaningless strings of letters (as opposed to if then else).
Assembly/ASM is probably the lowest level language there is, or at least the most widely used.
Thank You. Reading up on it.

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:15 pm
by pkay

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:16 pm
by wormcode
also http://www.lolcode.com

not relevant I just think it's hilarious

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:19 pm
by collige
^He's got it.

Note that assembly language is basically just a human-readable interpretation of hexademical, which in turn is just shorthand for binary, so it's all the same shit. The standards for all that shit are determined by the people who create the computer architecture: All modern consumer computers use Intel architecture.

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:20 pm
by collige
wormcode wrote:also http://www.lolcode.com

not relevant I just think it's hilarious
Similarly
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitespace ... anguage%29

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:21 pm
by ketamine
Ok. I get it now. So basically, the people who “write” Compilers (however the h3ll you do that) are the final translators. I don’t think they even teach this in Computer Science. I know a lot of CS grads who can barely write HTML. I guess you’d have to go to PhD level MIT to get to the point, you’re coding 01001010

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:27 pm
by collige
Nah, I did assembly in my second year at UMBC. I'm pretty sure most CS undergrad programs have a mandatory course that covers this (even though it's mostly useless for real life). Unless you're writing an OS or some shit, you're not gonna be looking at that shit. As for HTML, that's not a programming language, so it's not surprising that some people don't know it. That's web design stuff.

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 5:43 pm
by wormcode
collige wrote: (even though it's mostly useless for real life). Unless you're writing an OS or some shit, you're not gonna be looking at that shit.
Yeah when I was a teenager I was really into reverse engineering so naturally I made it a point to become obsessed with Assembly, decompilers etc... really impractical for real world usage these days though. There are some really interesting programs written in ASM though and a lot of people swear by it.

http://www.grc.com/smgassembly.htm (lots of great software here too, mostly free)

It definitely has benefits though, check out something like .kkrieger, which is a mix of C++ and ASM. The game looks comparable to any FPS released in the last few years, and better than a lot of them, and it's only 96kb. http://www.theprodukkt.com/kkrieger

Re: The Code behind Coding Languages?

Posted: Wed Aug 03, 2011 6:02 pm
by __________
It's all 0s and 1s at the end of the day. Read up on logic gates ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logic_gate ) and how its possible to make flip-flops (memory) out of them. It's pretty amazing...or at least I was pretty amazed when I learnt about them. They're like the fundamental building blocks of digital electronics. On a side note, someone was trying to explain quantum computing to me the other day - fuck me, I thought standard binary computing was hard to understand!