From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Return-Path: X-Original-To: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr Delivered-To: caml-list@yquem.inria.fr Received: from nez-perce.inria.fr (nez-perce.inria.fr [192.93.2.78]) by yquem.inria.fr (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2CB31D460 for ; Fri, 4 Nov 2005 16:28:17 +0100 (CET) Received: from pauillac.inria.fr (pauillac.inria.fr [128.93.11.35]) by nez-perce.inria.fr (8.13.0/8.13.0) with ESMTP id jA4FSGE8016120 for ; Fri, 4 Nov 2005 16:28:16 +0100 Received: from concorde.inria.fr (concorde.inria.fr [192.93.2.39]) by pauillac.inria.fr (8.7.6/8.7.3) with ESMTP id QAA00263 for ; Fri, 4 Nov 2005 16:28:16 +0100 (MET) Received: from karpinski.uscs.susx.ac.uk (karpinski.uscs.susx.ac.uk [139.184.14.85]) by concorde.inria.fr (8.13.0/8.13.0) with ESMTP id jA4FSF6Y029951 (version=TLSv1/SSLv3 cipher=DHE-RSA-AES256-SHA bits=256 verify=NO) for ; Fri, 4 Nov 2005 16:28:16 +0100 Received: from cpc1-brig7-3-0-cust179.brig.cable.ntl.com ([82.4.141.179]:59495) by karpinski.uscs.susx.ac.uk with esmtpsa (TLSv1:RC4-MD5:128) (Exim 4.43) id IPFSCF-0000UH-1X for caml-list@inria.fr; Fri, 04 Nov 2005 15:29:03 +0000 Subject: Re: [Caml-list] what is high-level (was: Wikipedia) From: David Teller To: caml-list@inria.fr In-Reply-To: References: <200511031726.59561.jon@ffconsultancy.com> <1131045878.4327.94.camel@localhost.localdomain> <1131071464.10871.44.camel@rosella> <200511041443.15429.fmonnier@linux-nantes.fr.eu.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 Date: Fri, 04 Nov 2005 15:28:11 +0000 Message-Id: <1131118091.6558.7.camel@titania> Mime-Version: 1.0 X-Mailer: Evolution 2.2.3 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Miltered: at nez-perce with ID 436B7E10.000 by Joe's j-chkmail (http://j-chkmail.ensmp.fr)! X-Miltered: at concorde with ID 436B7E0F.000 by Joe's j-chkmail (http://j-chkmail.ensmp.fr)! X-Spam: no; 0.00; caml-list:01 high-level:01 ens-lyon:01 high-level:01 higher-level:01 higher-level:01 ocaml:01 haskell:01 cheers:01 define:01 logical:01 somewhere:02 functional:02 programming:03 programming:03 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.0.3 (2005-04-27) on yquem.inria.fr X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=0.0 required=5.0 tests=none autolearn=disabled version=3.0.3 Le vendredi 04 novembre 2005 =C3=A0 09:13 -0600, Brian Hurt a =C3=A9crit : > >From that link: > > Although it is a high-level language, C is much closer to assembly=20 > > language than are most other high-level languages. >=20 > In other words, all languages are high-level, some are just more=20 > high-level than others. Fair enough on that. Still, we might need to define a notion of higher-level language. Perhaps a language A is of higher-level than a language B if the mode of thought imposed/encouraged by A are less related to actual technical issues of language implementation and more to issues of the target domain of your program ? > Learning a new paradigm is hard. As someone who has done it three times=20 > now (moving from the sphagetti code of Basic to the procedural style of=20 > Pascal, then moving to Object Oriented, and most recently Functional),=20 > trust me on this. Learning a new paradigm makes learning a new language=20 > 10 times as hard AT LEAST as learning a new language in the old paradigm. Same here, plus logical programming somewhere along the way. Still, in OCaml/Haskell/ML, you do need some understanding of the type system, which is typically not necessary in other programming languages. > Brian Cheers, David --=20 Read, Write, and Publish Standard eBooks Free, Open Software, Open Standards and multi-platform The OpenBerg project http://www.openberg.org