Concepts of Programming Languages Study Guide

A comprehensive set of flashcards covering key concepts and definitions from Chapters 1 and 2 of the programming languages study guide.

What are the programming domains mentioned?

Scientific (FORTRAN), Business (COBOL), AI (Lisp), Systems (C), Web (JavaScript/HTML).

What are the evaluation criteria for programming languages?

Readability, Writability, Reliability, Cost.

What factors influence readability in programming languages?

Simplicity, consistency, clear syntax, and avoidance of goto.

What factors influence writability in programming languages?

Simplicity, orthogonality, and expressive constructs.

What aspects contribute to reliability in programming languages?

Type checking, exception handling, and restricted aliasing.

What is portability in the context of programming languages?

Ease of moving programs between systems.

What does the Von Neumann architecture consist of?

Memory, CPU, and the fetch-execute cycle; imperative languages conform to it.

What are the implementation methods of programming languages?

Compilation, Interpretation, Hybrid, and JIT (Java).

What role do preprocessors play in programming?

They run before compilation (e.g., #include, #define, #ifdef).

What is the purpose of optimization in programming?

Techniques to reduce code size or increase execution speed.

Why is understanding the history of programming languages important?

It explains modern features and trade-offs.

What are some major programming languages discussed?

FORTRAN (scientific), COBOL (business), Lisp (AI), Simula (first OOP), Java (JIT).

What is the significance of PL/1 (programming language 1)?

IBM language for broad spectrum applications; combined features of FORTRAN and COBOL.

What are typeless languages?

Languages that are flexible but less reliable.

What is the language complexity debate?

The balance between simplicity and power in programming languages.

What are some examples of scripting languages?

JavaScript, Perl, Ruby; they are often interpreted.

What is pure interpretation in programming?

Immediate execution and easy debugging.

What does JIT stand for and what does it do?

Just-In-Time; it compiles intermediate code at runtime.

What are the two data structures in Lisp?

Atoms and lists; only top-level elements are counted.