

Are Computer Languages Irrelevant? - astrec
http://broadcast.oreilly.com/2008/11/are-computer-languages-irrelev.html

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neilc
_Virtualization of the operating system is also taking place. Most languages
written this decade do not talk directly to the underlying system. Instead,
the language is intended to run a virtual machine that in turn performs the
execution at the lowest level._

Virtual machines virtualize the _processor_ , not the operating system.

Leaving aside the nitpicking, the basic argument appears to be that imperative
languages will be replaced with "standardized abstract declarative
descriptions". Of course, these are just another kind of programming language.

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bsaunder
I don't think he's referring to "virtual machines" (which I think tend to run
one operating system 'within' another (ergo much more than the processor)).

He's talking about programming languages which generally run in a virtual
machine (e.g. the JVM) or other interpreted environments (e.g. ruby,
javascript, et.al).

~~~
neilc
Right. The JVM implements a virtual instruction set (JVM bytecode); it does
_not_ virtualize the operating system.

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jwilliams
I found this a difficult read, and difficult to draw a conclusion from. I
think partially because I think the title is quite misleading - it should be
"how will languages evolve?".

Also, it's surprising that this article doesn't touch on the Semantic Web;
which is clearly one of the initiatives that is key to all of this... Although
he does mention the important of ontologies.

Right now I don't buy the premise that we'll just be wiring (mashing) together
components in any near future.

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bsaunder
Yes, it was a bit longer than necessary to make his point. I think the general
point is that programming is more about information and system architecture
and less about the details of one particular language. I tend to agree with
this view.

I agree that RDF and the semantic web folks are also working on related
concepts (as are the PBEL / web-services folks). The programming landscape
seems to be changing faster and faster, so I do think that we will end up with
several good meta-programming environments in the near future.

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demallien
Someone needs to read, or re-read, "No Silver Bullet"

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hxa7241
Brooks somewhere notes that the only/best candidate for a 'silver bullet' is
reuse -- and I see that as the backbone of the article, or at least the
proposed vision. Essential complexity cannot be eliminated, of course, but it
can be avoided -- and that can be done more effectively.

