Comp Lang Perving

Syntax is the most important aspect of a programing language

The quality of a programing language, can be judged by how much of it can be explained by its syntax alone.

The following is critique of programing languages, with respect to formal language perspective.

For latest additions, subscribe: Xah Programing Blog.

Syntax Soup

1. What Are Good Qualities of Computer Language Syntax?
2. On Constructed Languages, Computer Languages, and Their Grammar Complexity
3. Syntax, Formal Language, Pattern Matching
4. Formal Definition of Systematic Grammar
5. Composable Syntax
6. Syntax Algebra
7. OOP Dot Notation, Dot Before Data or After?
8. Unix Pipe as Functional Language
9. Method Chaining, Postfix Operator, and OOP
10. Ontology of Postfix Notation, Method Chaining, and Unix Pipe
11. What's the Definition of Operator in Computer Language?
12. JavaScript Syntax Soup: 「p in o」 vs 「for (p in o) {…}」
13. Python's Context Dependent Syntax Soup: 「… in …」 And 「… not in …」
14. Context Dependent Syntax, Lisp setf, Python a[i]=x
15. Java Array Syntax Soup: Syntactic Irregularity and Ad Hoc Logic
16. Why List Comprehension Suck?
17. What's Point-free Programing? (point-free function syntax)
18. Problems of Symbol Congestion in Computer Languages; ASCII Jam vs Unicode
19. Unicode in Ruby, Perl, Python, JavaScript, Java, Emacs Lisp, Mathematica
20. Computer Language Design: String Syntax
21. Programing Language Design: Syntax Sugar Problem: Irregularity vs Convenience
22. What Does it Mean When a Programing Language Claims “Whitespace is Insignificant”?
23. OCaml Syntax Sucks
24. If Then Else Ternary Expression
25. Programing Language Design: the Hack of Bitmask Used as Boolean Parameters
26. Programing Languages Sugar Syntax: Compiler Level vs User Level
27. Programing Style: camelCase vs snake_case
28. What's the Most Readable Computer Language Syntax?
29. JavaScript Grammar is Not Context-Free!
30. The Naming of List Things in Computer Languages
31. Computer Language: Predicate Function, Terminology, and Naming Convention
32. Programing Style: Variable Naming: English Words Considered Harmful
33. Sigil for Function Parameter Names
34. Math Notation, Programing Language Syntax, and Thought
35. On Meta Syntax, Formal Language, and Logic

Semantic Noodle

1. OOP's Jargons and Complexities
2. Meaning of Object in Computer Languages
3. OOP Dot Notation, is Object Data or Namespace?
4. JavaScript Language Design: Dot Notation be Namespace or Object System
5. Alan Kay on Object Oriented Programing
6. Programing Language: Polymorphism, Dispatch, and the Tale of Poly-Tinting
7. Programing: Why I Hate Exceptions
8. Iterator, Enumerator, Abstraction Went Wrong
9. Language Design: Should Array Index Start at 0 or 1?
10. Programing Language: Syntactic and Semantic Difference of Map Function
11. Should the Map Function Specify Order?
12. Programing Language: Function Dependency
13. Programing: “or” Considered Harmful
14. Programing: Why I Hate C
15. The Complexity of Java Access Specifiers
16. Programing Craft: Intention vs Coolness
17. Why Idioms Are Bad
18. The Nature of Idioms in Programing Languages
19. Perl: Difference Between List and Array
20. Programing: Are int, float, long, double, Side-Effects of Computer Engineering?
21. Learning Notes on Goto, Continuation, Coroutine
22. Functional Programing Languages History Diagram
23. What Language Does Google Facebook Twitter Paypal Wikipedia … Use?
24. One Language to Rule Them All? Or, What Language to Use for Find Replace?
25. On the Rectification of Programing Language Spec by Formal Language
26. What's Ontology of Programing Language?
27. Math vs Programing, What-is vs How-to
28. A Class of Computer Languages: Math Languages
29. Which Languages to Learn? Perl, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, PHP, Emacs Lisp
30. Brainf*ck Language EOF Design Problem
31. Programing Language: Steve Yegge on Dynamic Languages
32. Functional Programing: is Real World Stateful?
33. Wizard Book: Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
34. Homotopy Type Theory
35. A Functional Programing Architecture on JavaScript and Object Oriented Document Object Model
36. What do Microsoft, Apple, Mozilla, say about Dart?
37. HTML6, JSON SXML Simplified
38. What Made Lambda Calculus So Powerful?
39. Why Does Struct Datatype Encroach Namespace?
40. Shell, REPL, vs Notebook and Emacs Environment Explained
41. Edge Cases in Computing, and What Exactly is Whitespace?
42. Empirical Analysis of Programming Language Adoption
43. History of Programing Languages in 1 Sentence
44. D3.js Visualization, a Quasi Science

On LISP

1. Concepts and Confusions of Prefix, Infix, Postfix and Lisp Notations
2. Can Lisp Macro Change Lisp Syntax?
3. Lisp Apostrophe Quote 'f Came From MacLisp
4. Mathematica vs Lisp Syntax
5. Nested Syntax Design: XML vs LISP
6. Programing Language: Systematic Syntax: Lisp vs Mathematica
7. Language Syntax: Brackets vs Begin/End vs Indentation for Nesting
8. LISP Syntax Problem of Piping Functions
9. Lisp vs Perl Syntax, the Cult Problem
10. XML is not S-Expressions
11. Is XML Stupid Brother of Lisp Sexp?
12. LISP Infix Syntax Survey
13. Fundamental Problems of Lisp
14. Famous Programers on How Common Lisp Sucks
15. Guy Steele Says: Don't Iterate, Recurse, and Get rid of cons!
16. Paul Graham's Infatuation with the Concept of Hacker
17. Programing Language Design: Why Lisp Macro Sucks
18. Why Clojure is Dense
19. Clojure's Popularity, a Tango with Java
20. Programing: LISP is Not Functional!
21. Emacs Lisp: read-from-minibuffer Propels Deep Questions
22. LISP, What Does Symbolic Language Mean?

Python

Why Python Suck

---

The following articles are not in the side panel. (due to historical directory structure reasons)

• Hack of Bitmask as Boolean Parameters
• What's Function, What's Operator?
• Logical Operators, Truth Table, Unicode

• HTML Correctness and Validators
• AutoHotkey Syntax Problems
• Linden Scripting Language Problems

• The TeX Pestilence (Why TeX/LaTeX Sucks)
• The Problems of Traditional Math Notation
• A Notation for Plane Geometry

Variable Naming

• The Importance of Terminology's Quality In Computer Languages

Semantics

• Programing Language Design: the Hack of Bitmask Used as Boolean Parameters
• Pattern Matching vs Grammar Specification

• Why Must Software be Rewritten for Multi-Core Processors?

• What is Expressiveness in a computer language?
• What's Closure in Programing Languages?
• Unix/Linux Shell Shebang: Who Gets to Use the First Char?

Language Underneath Mumble Jumble

• Hardware Modeled Computer Languages
• Functional Programing: Function Output Should Always Have the Same Structure

Social Issues

• Programing Language Popularity 2017
• Proliferation of Computing Languages
• What Languages to Hate
• the Measure of a Language
• Laziness, Perl, and Larry Wall
• Larry Wall and Cults

• Programing Languages Popularity Trend
• Computer Language Websites Popularity
• What Determines a Computer Language's Popularity?
• Erik Naggum and Why There Isn't An Ocean of “Lisp Jobs”
• One Language to Rule Them All?

• From Why Not Ruby to FCK Python, Hello Ruby
• 3D Graphics Formats and Social Causes in Computer Languages

Formatting

• A Simple Lisp Code Formatter
• A Text Editor Feature: Syntax Tree Walk

• The Harm of hard-wrapping Lines
• Tabs versus Spaces in Source Code
• Plain-Text Email Fetish
• Unix, RFC, Line Truncation

• Emacs Why line-move-visual
• Emacs Form Feed (^L) Display Suggestion and Tips

Jargons of Software Industry

Jargons of Software Industry

LISP

• comp.lang.lisp Fight on the Meaning of Closure

• What is Your Favorite Lisp
• Language, Purity, Cult, and Deception
• Scheme Lisp and Failure
• Why Qi Lisp Fails and Clojure Succeeds
• Lisp Macros and Practical Common Lisp
• I Can Not Find A Word Better Than “CAR”
• Will Lisp Ever Be Popular?

• My First Encounter and Impression of Lisp
• Lispers and Wikipedia
• Modernization of Emacs Lisp
• Lisp's List Problem
• Why You should Not Use the Jargons lisp-1 lisp-2
• Is Lisp's Objects Concept Necessary?

Tech Doc Humor

documentation idiocy collection

regex and parsing

Xah Regular Expression Articles Index

Misc, unsorted yet

• Avoiding Variables in Functional Programing
• Why is Namespace So Difficult?
• Why Learn Lisp When There Are Perl and Python

• Text Processing: Emacs Lisp vs Perl
• Emacs Lisp vs Perl: Validate Local File Links

Programing Challenge

Programing Problems Index