Programming Language and code aesthetics
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Does Code written in some languages appear more "beautiful" than other languages? Granted, there is an element of developer there too. But ignoring the developer, do code in some languages prone to appear more "ugly" than in some other languages. For example, to me code written in Java/C#/Python/JavaScript appear aesthetically more pleasing than that in Objective C or Scheme (even though I love Scheme) or Perl. What languages do you find "beautiful" ? or you don't think that there is an aesthetic aspect of a languages?
Proud to be a CPHog user
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I thought I was taking to Programmers and not romantics.
Proud to be a CPHog user
Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
I thought I was taking to Programmers and not romantics.
That would be "hedonists", thank you...and I remind you that the first web porn sites were first patronized by web programming geeks...so you expected never to get this sort of answer?? :laugh: Those rascallly programmers
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Christian hinted at it: we tend to "feel" code is beautiful if it is well structured (or if you want to be sexist about it: well stacked!) and code which is not structured is ugly. But we do this in other areas of life as well: a flower bed which is looked after is pleasant to look at while an untended flower bed overrun with weeds is ugly. I suppose you could call BASIC, the weeds of programming languages.
m.bergman
-- For Bruce Schneier, quanta only have one state : afraid.
Beautiful code is often independent of language. I've seen gorgeous code in visual basic and absolutely horrendous code in C. Of course, I've never ever seen beautiful COBOL...wonder why that is....
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Does Code written in some languages appear more "beautiful" than other languages? Granted, there is an element of developer there too. But ignoring the developer, do code in some languages prone to appear more "ugly" than in some other languages. For example, to me code written in Java/C#/Python/JavaScript appear aesthetically more pleasing than that in Objective C or Scheme (even though I love Scheme) or Perl. What languages do you find "beautiful" ? or you don't think that there is an aesthetic aspect of a languages?
Proud to be a CPHog user
I once used Forth. At first it appeared like a really neat way to make an instant program. :omg: Just like using my favorite HP RPN calculator which I still love. :) Forth has/had 2 stacks which added to the confusion.:confused: Problem was, you made a great bit of code that worked, and 2 days later could not understand or enhance your program. It became gibberish. :(( HP calculator program has same problem, but for a transient program application like an instant vector rotation or weird conversion it is great. It just can't speak or spell, and neither can I. C,C++,Delphi,VB are easier to maintain. :) With .asm at least you can make an instant 400MHz data analyzer with a printer port, sans Windows.:suss:
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Does Code written in some languages appear more "beautiful" than other languages? Granted, there is an element of developer there too. But ignoring the developer, do code in some languages prone to appear more "ugly" than in some other languages. For example, to me code written in Java/C#/Python/JavaScript appear aesthetically more pleasing than that in Objective C or Scheme (even though I love Scheme) or Perl. What languages do you find "beautiful" ? or you don't think that there is an aesthetic aspect of a languages?
Proud to be a CPHog user
For sheer powerful beauty, nothing but Prolog will do, hehehe...everything else is just assembler writ large.
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Does Code written in some languages appear more "beautiful" than other languages? Granted, there is an element of developer there too. But ignoring the developer, do code in some languages prone to appear more "ugly" than in some other languages. For example, to me code written in Java/C#/Python/JavaScript appear aesthetically more pleasing than that in Objective C or Scheme (even though I love Scheme) or Perl. What languages do you find "beautiful" ? or you don't think that there is an aesthetic aspect of a languages?
Proud to be a CPHog user
All the answers supplied so far are clearly wrong. The most beautiful programming language - head and shoulders above the rest - is the Shakespeare Programming Language[^]. The language, used properly, is quite beautiful. However, it does tend to be a little on the verbose side.
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Does Code written in some languages appear more "beautiful" than other languages? Granted, there is an element of developer there too. But ignoring the developer, do code in some languages prone to appear more "ugly" than in some other languages. For example, to me code written in Java/C#/Python/JavaScript appear aesthetically more pleasing than that in Objective C or Scheme (even though I love Scheme) or Perl. What languages do you find "beautiful" ? or you don't think that there is an aesthetic aspect of a languages?
Proud to be a CPHog user
Coding style is less about the language itself, and more about the programmer. I've programmed in PERL for many years. It's a language you could make very ugly and difficult to follow, and some do. However, with discipline, any code can be written in a clear and concise manner, and thereby be made "beautiful."
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Mustafa, could I ask you something? Print the quoted one, find some notary sign it, put a seal and bind with a government apostil after that send it to me. It could be something like: I, down signed Mustafa Ismail Mustafa Hereby Authorize Deyan Georgiev to:
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa wrote:
Go out, enjoy a drink or four, meet some girls, meet some new people who aren't in the computer business
I need something more official for my wife.:)
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
Now we should post a Suggestion that Chris send an email to significant others, saying something like: "Code Project member xxx has spent yyy hours on CodeProject.com this week and has posted zzz messages. Please grant him/her a weekend pass."
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Coding style is less about the language itself, and more about the programmer. I've programmed in PERL for many years. It's a language you could make very ugly and difficult to follow, and some do. However, with discipline, any code can be written in a clear and concise manner, and thereby be made "beautiful."
kbarrett2008 wrote:
owever, with discipline, any code can be written in a clear and concise manner,
That's the point some languages require extra effort to make code beautiful where as some other languages it is easier to write code that looks good.
Proud to be a CPHog user
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All the answers supplied so far are clearly wrong. The most beautiful programming language - head and shoulders above the rest - is the Shakespeare Programming Language[^]. The language, used properly, is quite beautiful. However, it does tend to be a little on the verbose side.
Forsooth. I suppose the Gilbert And Sullivan language would have built-in concurrency. I have here a copy of a humourous piece that was printed in some magazine in the early '80s. It says it was, "Reprinted from the New England Computer Society Newsletter, Volume 7, Number 11". (Anyone have a copy of that?) I won't type it in, but it's a list of several fictitious (I hope) programming languages, including: VALGOL FIFTH LITHP
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Forsooth. I suppose the Gilbert And Sullivan language would have built-in concurrency. I have here a copy of a humourous piece that was printed in some magazine in the early '80s. It says it was, "Reprinted from the New England Computer Society Newsletter, Volume 7, Number 11". (Anyone have a copy of that?) I won't type it in, but it's a list of several fictitious (I hope) programming languages, including: VALGOL FIFTH LITHP
This: http://www.jumbojoke.com/littleknown_computer_languages.html[^] was the 3rd hit for the list of languages you provided.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
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Forsooth. I suppose the Gilbert And Sullivan language would have built-in concurrency. I have here a copy of a humourous piece that was printed in some magazine in the early '80s. It says it was, "Reprinted from the New England Computer Society Newsletter, Volume 7, Number 11". (Anyone have a copy of that?) I won't type it in, but it's a list of several fictitious (I hope) programming languages, including: VALGOL FIFTH LITHP
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Does Code written in some languages appear more "beautiful" than other languages? Granted, there is an element of developer there too. But ignoring the developer, do code in some languages prone to appear more "ugly" than in some other languages. For example, to me code written in Java/C#/Python/JavaScript appear aesthetically more pleasing than that in Objective C or Scheme (even though I love Scheme) or Perl. What languages do you find "beautiful" ? or you don't think that there is an aesthetic aspect of a languages?
Proud to be a CPHog user
The languages I consider 'beautiful' are: Smalltalk Eiffel Python Occam (Although I never used any of them, except Eiffel). The 'ugliest': Forth FORTRAN BASIC C/C++ APL any Assembler, of course. My beauty criteria are: simplicity (small number of base elements), consistency, code readability. The more beautiful a language is, the harder it is to write a buggy program, given that the developer has a sense of aesthetics (although no language can guarantee that programs are bug-free). Roman
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I take heat for it but I love VB.net. C++ may look pretty form a distance but as she gets closer you start to see that her blouse is off by one button, one high heel is shorter than the other and her eyes are crossed in a wild and crazy look that makes you think she perpetually drinks way too much. Oh yeah, and her hair extensions are starting to come loose...
C++ may be a fast and loose woman, but when you mention VB.NET I keep hearing Queen's Fat-Bottomed Girls running through my head.
Software Zen:
delete this;
Fold With Us![^] -
Mustafa, could I ask you something? Print the quoted one, find some notary sign it, put a seal and bind with a government apostil after that send it to me. It could be something like: I, down signed Mustafa Ismail Mustafa Hereby Authorize Deyan Georgiev to:
Mustafa Ismail Mustafa wrote:
Go out, enjoy a drink or four, meet some girls, meet some new people who aren't in the computer business
I need something more official for my wife.:)
The narrow specialist in the broad sense of the word is a complete idiot in the narrow sense of the word. Advertise here – minimum three posts per day are guaranteed.
pesky wifes :)
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This: http://www.jumbojoke.com/littleknown_computer_languages.html[^] was the 3rd hit for the list of languages you provided.
Today's lesson is brought to you by the word "niggardly". Remember kids, don't attribute to racism what can be explained by Scandinavian language roots. -- Robert Royall
Oh, thanks.
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Does Code written in some languages appear more "beautiful" than other languages? Granted, there is an element of developer there too. But ignoring the developer, do code in some languages prone to appear more "ugly" than in some other languages. For example, to me code written in Java/C#/Python/JavaScript appear aesthetically more pleasing than that in Objective C or Scheme (even though I love Scheme) or Perl. What languages do you find "beautiful" ? or you don't think that there is an aesthetic aspect of a languages?
Proud to be a CPHog user
Rama Krishna Vavilala wrote:
Does Code written in some languages appear more "beautiful" than other languages?
Yes. C# looks nicer than C++. Almost anything looks nicer than Perl but, especially, Python and Ruby both look way nicer than Perl. Eiffel looks nicer than C#. Unfortunately its usage is virtually non-existent in comparison.
Kevin
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Good question. If he considers C to be ugly, how could he consider C++ or C# to be, well, not ugly?
BDF People don't mind being mean; but they never want to be ridiculous. -- Moliere
Big Daddy Farang wrote:
If he considers C to be ugly, how could he consider C++ or C# to be, well, not ugly?
I'd say C# is nicer than C++. I remember when C# first came out and I spent a few months playing with it while in between contracts. Then when I went back to C++ it looked ugly as hell.
Kevin
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Beautiful code is often independent of language. I've seen gorgeous code in visual basic and absolutely horrendous code in C. Of course, I've never ever seen beautiful COBOL...wonder why that is....
cpkilekofp wrote:
Beautiful code is often independent of language.
That is true but some languages facilitate nicer looking code than others. Of course, there is a certain amount of subjectivism in all this.
Kevin
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cpkilekofp wrote:
Beautiful code is often independent of language.
That is true but some languages facilitate nicer looking code than others. Of course, there is a certain amount of subjectivism in all this.
Kevin
"Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." To me, beautiful code must, regardless of the environment, express its function clearly and succinctly, allowing those of all skill levels to apprehend its intent, and that intent is implemented completely, efficiently, and robustly. I'll even admit to the possiblity of beautiful COBOL, given that all these other conditions are met...and for me, that's a BIG admisstion :laugh: