On Wed, 07 Dec 2005 10:25, Carl Cerecke wrote: > Some computer science for the day: > > A programming language, to be considered as such, needs to be at least > as powerful as a linear bounded automaton (a restricted version of a > turing machine). That is, the language must be able to emulate an LBA, > and an LBA must be able to emulate the language. Essentially, if you > have loops and variables you are an LBA. HTML has neither loops nor > variables. Loops agreed, but what happens to HTML when you add the form construct? It gets data from the user and stores it. Doesn't that make HTML a 'programming language'?
> Also, if you have loops and a stack (no variables, just > push and pop from the stack) then you have a push-down automata (PDA). You mean like FORTH and PostScript? Referring to earlier postings which state that outputs from GPL programs which include fragments of code from inside the GPL program mean that your document generated by a GPL licenced formatting program is therefore similarly GPL licenced? I shudder at that thought, because if it's true than one cannot write a man page or any other document with a closed copyright for a commercial product and format it to PostScript using groff. Frankly imho that's nonsensical. Am I correct? > This would be considered by some to be a (limited) programming > language - certainly writing in a language with the power of a PDA > feels more like programming than writing HTML. I assure you that writing FORTH is programming inasmuch as the result looks like a program, behaves like a program, and requires the same mental processes as programming. Thus it _*is*_ programming. > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linear_bounded_automaton > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_complete > > On 07/12/05, Jim Cheetham <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote: > > On Wed, Dec 07, 2005 at 09:44:41AM +1300, Steve Holdoway wrote: > > > ...couldn't it be argued that html is also code? > > > > Oh, yes ... "HTML Programmers" ... :-) > > > > It's a code, sure ... but it's not really a programming language, it's > > "just" markup. > > > > JavaScript however ... that's a language, and therefore is code. > > > > -jim -- CS
