Article View: comp.lang.misc
Article #38Re: Copmaring Power (Expressivity) of Two Languages
From: Amr Sabry
Date: Wed, 04 Nov 1992 14:40
Date: Wed, 04 Nov 1992 14:40
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In article <1992Oct19.192241.8830@newshost.lanl.gov>, jlg@cochiti.lanl.gov (J. Giles) writes: |> Oh. Now I disagree with you even more. For example, it is clear that |> all high level languages can be translated into assembly (or they won't |> work at all), and that assembly is less expressive (in a human-factors |> sense). To be sure, assembly allows you to do everything the machine |> is capable of. However, the ease of programming is not exactly the |> best in the world. |> |> Or, do you intend to define "expressiveness" as merely that raw, |> hands-on control and not ease of use? You are totally missing the point. First the definition is not mine but a formal definition from the literature. Second, the definition I mentioned does NOT imply that assembly is more expressive than any language. Otherwise, would you care to show me a LOCAL translation (without knowning the rest of the program) of the following Scheme fragment into your favorite assembly language: (call/cc (lambda (k) k)) Compare this with the while loop example. A while-loop can be translated to an equivalent repeat-loop WITHOUT knowing ANYTHING about the rest of the program. -- Amr Sabry sabry@cs.rice.edu --------------------------------------------------------------------- Man will occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of the time he will pick himself up and continue on.-- Churchill's Commentary on Man
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Newsgroups: comp.lang.misc,comp.programming Path: arc1-ca.pugleaf.net!sparky!uunet!gumby!wupost!newsfeed.rice.edu!rice!sabry From: sabry@rice.edu (Amr Sabry) Subject: Re: Copmaring Power (Expressivity) of Two Languages Message-ID: <Bx74rA.1t1@rice.edu> Originator: sabry@datura.cs.rice.edu Sender: news@rice.edu (News) Reply-To: sabry@rice.edu (Amr Sabry) Organization: Rice University References: <1992Oct17.191243.21215@cs.uoregon.edu> <BwDKKJ.J64@rice.edu> <BwDn65.Jy6@rice.edu> <1992Oct19.192241.8830@newshost.lanl.gov> Date: Wed, 4 Nov 1992 14:40:21 GMT Lines: 30