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How Heraclitus would Design a Programming Language
CowboyRobot writes "Developer of Smalltalk Alan Kay has an interview on ACM Queue where he describes the history of computing and his approach to designing languages. Kay has an impressive resume (PARC, ARPAnet, Atari, Apple, Alan Turing Award winner) and has an endless supply of memorable quotes: 'Perl is another example of filling a tiny, short-term need, and then being a real problem in the longer term,' 'Once you have something that grows faster than education grows, you're always going to get a pop culture,' 'most undergraduate degrees in computer science these days are basically Java vocational training,' 'All creativity is an extended form of a joke,' and 'nobody really knows how to design a good language.'"
The itching wasn't so bad, but the burning drove me nuts.
I'm a big tall mofo.
?first post
Computing is a fast-paced field. What was cutting edge yesterday is as
outdated as a pet rock today. Newer, more efficient technologies are
always being developed. The 8" floppy gave way to the 3.5" floppy
which was later replaced by the CD-R. The acoustic modem eventually
yielded to the DSL/Cable modem. Unix was overtaken by Windows XP. And
so on.
The same technology also applies to programming languages. C yielded
to C++ which gave way to C#. However, the time has come for a complete
paradigm shift in programming. I propose a de facto migration towards
a relatively new, but promising language known as assembly.
Most of you are probably unfamiliar with this langauge. I know I was
until I chanced upon it in my community college while completing my
MCSE. So allow me to give you a little background on this language:
C++ and Java do not allow the programmer to directly access the
hardware. Instead they compile into a "bytecode" which is then
interpretted by a virtual machine. While very portable, this limits
the speed of Java and C++ programs.
Assembly, however, was designed to allow the programmer *direct
access* to the hardware! This makes for *much* faster programs.
Furthermore, assembly is the same language "spoken" by computers.
Because of this, you may sometimes see assembly referred to as
"machine code".
I fear that without the support of a large corporation (the way MS has
pushed Java, or Sun supported C#) assembly will fall by the wayside
like many other interesting languages (Python, I'm looking at you!)
Thus I hope to start a "grass-roots" movement to support assembly. I
would like to see the FSF release a GNU-based assembly compiler
(although they can keep the bugs that have plagued the 3.0 release of
gcc which caused people to switch to Visual Studio for their Linux
programming.)
I would love to expound on the superiority of assembly over C++/Java
but I'm late for my "Intro to TCP/IP" class. Those of you familiar
with assembly, please feel free to educate the many ignorant
C/C++/Java users on the glory of this superior language.
Thank you and God bless!
That better be some kind of sick joke, newbie. Stick with java.
"a member of the research team that developed pioneering 3-D graphics work for the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA)"
Is he the one guy invented the GUI in Jurassic Park ? the one the little girl was playing like with a video game (first geeky girl I saw... frightening)...
"An eye for an eye makes the whole world blind." - Ghandi.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
Kant...stop...self...must..post...stupid...comment
"God fights on the side with the best artillery." - Napoleon, Marshal of France - speaking truth to power