40 lines
1.2 KiB
Markdown
40 lines
1.2 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: Computer Language
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tags: []
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---
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# Computer Language
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A **computer language**,
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also called a text-encoding system,
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or simply [code](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Code),
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is a communication schema
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which allows a person or program to make a computer do something
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without specifically telling it to do all the intermediate,
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low-level processes like memory allocation and stack manipulation
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which would be necessary to do achieve the desired outcome.
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> Due to patterns of abstraction typical of [[orthodox-computing]]
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> it may not be intuitive to non-technical users
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> that file extensions do not change the way the files themselves work,
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> only the way other [[software]] treats them.
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## Compiled vs. Interpreted Languages
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%%
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In practice this line is fuzzy,
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especially when attempting to be true of all computer language,
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not just programming languages.
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Is [[pdf]] compiled?
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%%
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## Terminology
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* **transpiler** --- a program which converts one language to another.
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> [[obsidian]] uses a transpiler
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> to convert the [[markdown]] you write into [[html]]
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> which other subroutines can render and display.
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* **interpreter** --- a program which performs actions
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according to code _in sequence_.
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