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submitted 4 days ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[-] [email protected] 27 points 3 days ago

Some people think that only compiled languages are true programming languages. (Needless to say, they're wrong.)

[-] [email protected] 10 points 3 days ago

Needless to say, they're wrong.

Not least because there's no such thing as a "compiled" or "interpreted" language.

Which is to say that it's a property of the tooling rather than the language itself. There's nothing stopping anyone from writing a C interpreter or a Python compiler.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 3 days ago

There's nothing stopping anyone from writing a C interpreter

Except god, hopefully

[-] [email protected] 2 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Not least because there’s no such thing as a “compiled” or “interpreted” language.

I'd say there is (but the line is a bit blurry). IMHO the main distinction is the presence (and prevalence) of eval semantics in the language; if it is present, then any "compiler" would have to embed itself into the generated code, thus de-facto turning it into a bundled interpreter.

That said, the argument that interpreted languages are somehow not programming languages is stupid.

[-] [email protected] 6 points 3 days ago

Yeah, once you know all the details, the distinction disappears. The term doesn't clarify understanding.

If I had to make a distinction, it'd be that scripting languages are meant to be a simple way to serve a specific niche. Things like SQL or Excel formulas. It doesn't apply to Python.

this post was submitted on 29 May 2025
652 points (95.2% liked)

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