Re: Best/Densest languages [was RE: PROGRAMMING: Free Tools]

KPJ (kpj@sics.se)
Wed, 29 Sep 1999 10:46:15 +0200

[REPEAT DUE TO NETWORK FAILURE]

It appears as if Robert J. Bradbury <bradbury@www.aeiveos.com> wrote:
|
|What is currently the densest language (i.e. the fewest
|lines on the part of the programmer, result in the greatest
|amount of work on the part of the machine?) SQL?

Do you use the word "work" to refer to some task of interest to an

external unit (e.g. a human)?

If NO:

Answer: A small assembly program executing an eternal loop.

If YES:

Some languages allow you to write any-length one-liners.

Any language which allows subroutines in any other language can create extremely short, extremely high-level programs.

So... Shell scripts, C code, PERL code, etc. can let the machine run for years performing some tedious task.

The small programs called OS loaders load a subroutine into memory and executes it, thus starting an operating system.

If these answers do not satisfy you, you might have had some unstated assumptions. If so, state them.