

Give me a hint: How are programming languages related to problem domains? - jbandi
http://blog.jonasbandi.net/2009/01/give-me-hint-how-are-programming.html
Can anybody give me a hint how (general) programming languages and problem domains are related?
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Jebdm
It's all about the concepts which the language bases itself on and the way
that people think about problems.

I think the easiest way to see this is a (somewhat contrived) example. Imagine
there are two languages, which run equally efficiently for equivalent problem
specifications. The first one is basically just C; its conceptual model
matches the way the hardware it runs on fairly closely. The second is
something like Haskell; most of its concepts come from mathematics and formal
computer science, and as such it places fairly strong restrictions on what you
can and cannot do.

Both of these would be capable of calculating whatever you wanted (assuming
they're both Turing-complete), but the C-like language would be better suited
for tasks that require knowledge of the hardware (systems programming) while
the Haskell-like language would be better suited for mathematical/theoretical
type programs. (The difference between two C-like languages would be
negligible, assuming equivalent libraries and efficiency.)

Both would work for other things, of course, but they may not be as nice to
use.

