At 04:41 PM 08.17.2001 -0700, Dean Theophilou wrote:
>Hello:
>
> I understand what you're saying but the fact remains: STRICTLY
> speaking,
>Perl is NOT an interpreted language (such as the BASIC language I learned in
>high school, many, many years ago).
Just a minor correction (semantics only). Perl *is* an interpreted
language where BASIC and C are compiled languages. I believe everyone,
including myself, got the idea though. I just wanted to make clear the
words used between the two.
Interpreted meaning that the script/program is interpreted and compiled at
run time by the compiler (the Perl binary) and then run. Whereas BASIC, C,
C++, COBOL, FORTRAN, etc, etc are all compiled into machine language. At
runtime the OS knows how to run the program and is therefore *not*
interpreted but simply run.
> Sure, there is an interpreter, but
>there is also a compile phase (which is the point you sorta made in your 2nd
>paragraph). Now, I make no claims at being an expert on this, but if your
>argument is that the authors of Perl in a Nutshell are wrong, then say so.
>And if that's the case, then I will research it some more.
>
> On a different subject: as to what a script is, and to stir the
> pot a bit,
>let me quote Tim Hill, the author of Windows NT Shell Scripting (published
>by MTP) and a professional software developer (among other things):
>
>"This is a book about Windows NT scripting. In Windows NT, a SCRIPT is a
>record, in a text file, of a sequence of shell commands. (A SHELL COMMAND is
>approximately the same as a command typed into a command prompt window.)
>Once created, a script can be executed as if it were an executable
>program...thus a script, in its simplest form, is just a way of saving
>typing...[scripting] has evolved into a full programming language" (pp.
>7-8) (Emphases, in caps, are the author's and not mine.)
>
> Conclusion: Perl is a high-level language; and it is both a scripting
>language as well as a programming language (since it has the characteristics
>of both). In other words, you can have your cake and eat it too. :)
>
>
>Dean Theophilou
>
>P.S. I've always considered Assembly to be a low-level language, C to be a
>mid-level language, and Pascal and Perl to be high-level, but that's simply
>my own personal way of categorizing.
>
>
>
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]]
>Sent: Friday, August 17, 2001 3:11 PM
>To: Dean Theophilou
>Cc: Jon Acierto; [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Subject: Re: PERL IS NOT A HIGH LEVEL LANGUAGE
>
>
> > "Dean Theophilou" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> said:
>
> > Technically, Perl is NOT an interpreted language. The Perl
> interpreter
> > converts the program into byte code before executing, just like C. This
>is
> > a paraphrase of p. 31 of Perl in a Nutshell, by O'Reilly. I suggest you
>get
> > the book, since it was written by real-world (as opposed to "teachers")
> > professional programmers.
>
>A C compiler generates machine specific assembly code which is loaded to
>create an executable program which can run independent of the compiler. e.g.
>the language parsing, code generation step is performed once. Perl parses
>and
>generates code each time the program is run. So parsing and code generation
>overhead is part of normal perl execution. That is why a perl "executable"
>is
>just the script itself.
>
>There are ways to generate perl "object" code, but for most application
>the reduction in overhead is hardly worthwhile. Also having the perl
>parser and code generator around at runtime is useful for executing
>dynamically generated code e.g. eval() and do(). It also allows very
>late symbol table binding, since the symbol table is carried with the
>execution environment in perl. This is generally not true with C,
>where variables are bound at compile/load time.
>
>Please remember the compile->load->execute paradigm was developed at a
>time when memory and cpu cycles were a scarce resource. It works well
>when you have to run a program many times (e.g. a heavily used utility
>like the Unix shell) with little runtime overhead.
>
>
>--
>Smoot Carl-Mitchell
>Consultant
>
>
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