On Oct 8, 2006, at 8:50 PM, Paul Gilmartin wrote:
--------------SNIP------------------------------
What's a programming language? Must it have variables, assignment
statements, loops, GOTOs, ...? LISP 1.0 has none of those, yet
is generally deemed a programming language. I know no troff, so
I don't know its capabilities. PostScript, however, while generally
used to format text has variables, assignments, loops, and
subroutines,
so the PostScript-savvy recognize it as a programming language.
JCL is on the borderline. What does the "L" stand for?
I suppose a harsh criterion might be the power to emlate a universal
Turing machine, subject only to storage constraints.
Gil,
Yes it is a harsh criterion but becareful as your criterion would
probably throw out cobol as well (the old and the new).
Ed
-- gil
--
StorageTek
INFORMATION made POWERFUL
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO
Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with the message: GET IBM-MAIN INFO
Search the archives at http://bama.ua.edu/archives/ibm-main.html
