On Friday 23 July 2010 11:46:47 Nick Sabalausky wrote: > It's always bugged me when people use the term "invent" in relaton to a > programming language. It's like saying that a musician "invented" a song, > or that Mark Twain "invented" a book. Wrong word.
Actully, I believe that invent _is_ the right word here. You write a book or a song. With a book or a song, you're actually physically writing something (well, in the past anyway - now it may be typing or involve a mouse, but people used pen and paper before). With a computer program, you are again writing it (again likely typing it, but for pretty much the same reasons, the word write applies). However, a programming _language_ is a tool, not something that you write with pen and paper. Tools aren't written. They're invented. So, a programming language is invented, not written. The compiler itself - being a program - is written, but the language itself is invented. - Jonathan M Davis
