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From: ndiamond@watdaisy.UUCP (Norman Diamond)
Newsgroups: net.lang
Subject: Re: High-levelity
Message-ID: <6834@watdaisy.UUCP>
Date: Sun, 30-Dec-84 17:42:57 EST
Article-I.D.: watdaisy.6834
Posted: Sun Dec 30 17:42:57 1984
Date-Received: Mon, 31-Dec-84 02:02:41 EST
References: <83@mit-athena.ARPA> <235@gumby.UUCP>
Organization: U of Waterloo, Ontario
Lines: 34

How's this for a first approximation to a definition of high-levelness:

If it is easier to translate between the problem being solved and a program
in language X, than between the problem and a program in language Y, then
X is higher-level than Y.  (Notice that this is two-way translation.  Those
programmers who are satisfied with write-only languages may alter this for
one-way translation, and define a different term.)

Here are additional thoughts:

If it is easier to translate a problem into a program than it is to translate
the program into machine code, then the language is at least moderately high-
level.  (This may give a bonus to write-only languages.  Anyone who can fix
this defect, please e-mail.)

If users of a language find their work easier than those who develop and
enhance compilers for it, then the language is at least moderately high-
level.

We could try a direct comparison between total time spent by all application
programmers using a particular compiler, and total time spent by all system
programmers who maintain the compiler.  After all, firms develop compilers
when they expect to have a lot of customers, and the customers expect to use
the compiler quite a bit.

So, nearly all present-day languages are still low-level.  True.

-- Norman Diamond

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