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Alexander Garelkin2016-06-18 15:27:19
Programming
Alexander Garelkin, 2016-06-18 15:27:19

Does a programming language developer create only a standard?

I apologize for the stupid question.
The language is determined by its translator, isn't it? When they say that Stroustrup created the PL, does it mean that he created the standard and recommendations for the compiler, or also the compiler itself?

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Stanislav Makarov, 2016-06-18
@Nipheris

The language is determined by its translator, isn't it?

In general, this is bad. Of course, some languages ​​have popular standard implementations that everyone looks up to and that kind of sets the de facto language standard, but the written standard is always better than the standard-by-implementation. Because there is always something to look at, and an implementation bug will not turn into a language feature: read about typeof null === 'object'it in Javascript, this is a great example of an implementation bug fixed in the language standard.
On the other hand, when writing a standard, test (albeit not quite stable, but still working) implementations are necessarily made. Otherwise, it is possible to standardize non-working or unrealizable concepts and features. This is especially true for complex languages ​​like C ++, where when adding a new feature, you need to take into account a bunch of points and dock it with the already existing features of the language.
I don't know the exact definition of "create a programming language". The same pluses were at first C with classes, and classes, EMNIP, were implemented using macros. Was it already then possible to say that C++ was created or not yet? Or maybe C++ was created when the first program was written in it? Or when was the first standard developed? Therefore, it is better to be specific - "a formal specification of the language was created" or "the first implementation was created".
For some esoteric languages ​​(for example, Malborge ), the first programs were written much later than the creation of the language itself, and in automatic mode. This is of course a perverted example, but it (like the aforementioned language itself) shows the relativity of the concept of "creating a language".

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mamkaololosha, 2016-06-18
@mamkaololosha

The standard is created by a group of experts who guarantee that in 5 years it will not turn out that there is a fatal error in the language and it will destroy humanity. By the way, Stroustrup wrote one of the first C++ compilers himself and wrote under-google on it. There was also a woman there, but she is constantly forgotten.

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abcd0x00, 2016-06-19
@abcd0x00

The language is determined by its translator, isn't it?

A language is a set of chains over an alphabet. In order to specify a language, it is necessary to compose a grammar that generates all chains of the language.
A translator is a program that translates a chain of one language over one alphabet into a chain of another language over another alphabet. In this case, the chains must be semantically equivalent.
Therefore, a language is a grammar that is compiled and for which a translator is implemented.
For example, assembler is a language (grammar). A chain of assembler instructions is translated into a chain of machine language codes using a translator.
And a standard is a document that fixes a grammar, to which all implementations that implement this language must then obey.

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