Computer Science - Brian Kernighan on successful language design
TLDRBrian Kernighan delivered a talk on the evolution and significance of programming languages, emphasizing the importance of language design in facilitating programmer efficiency. He discussed the trade-offs between human and machine efficiency, the proliferation of languages illustrated by the Tower of Babel metaphor, and the historical context of language development from assembly to high-level languages like FORTRAN and COBOL. Kernighan highlighted the success of scripting languages like AWK and the rise of domain-specific languages, which are smaller and simpler, allowing for targeted problem-solving. He also touched on the challenges of maintaining language stability while incorporating necessary changes. The talk concluded with insights on why languages succeed or fail, suggesting that the future of language innovation lies in domain-specific languages rather than general-purpose ones.
Takeaways
- 🎓 **Language Design Philosophy**: Brian Kernighan emphasizes the importance of a language's notation and how it should align with the tasks it's meant to accomplish, affecting the way programmers think about problems.
- 📚 **Success of Languages**: A language's success often hinges on its ability to solve real problems efficiently, its cultural compatibility with existing practices, and environmental compatibility within the current tech ecosystem.
- 🛠️ **Tool-Oriented Languages**: Kernighan discusses how languages like AWK were designed for specific tasks, such as text processing, and how they can be extremely efficient when used for their intended purpose.
- 🤔 **Programmer Efficiency vs. Machine Efficiency**: He highlights the trade-off between the time it takes a programmer to write code and the efficiency of the code itself, noting that for many tasks, programmer efficiency is more critical.
- 🏫 **Educational Insights**: Kernighan shares that languages which are easy to learn and use can be successfully adopted even by those without a technical background, as demonstrated with the teaching of AWK to typists.
- 📈 **AMPL Language**: Introduced as a mathematical modeling language that allows users to describe optimization problems algebraically, which can then be solved by a computer, emphasizing its use in industries like airlines and manufacturing.
- 📉 **Language Evolution**: Discusses the evolution of programming languages from machine code to assembly, high-level languages, and the addition of features like object-oriented programming and strong typing.
- 🌐 **Impact of Hardware on Language Design**: Touches on how advancements in hardware have influenced language design, allowing for more abstract and higher-level languages without sacrificing performance.
- 📋 **Documentation and Data Representation**: Kernighan reflects on the creation of EQN and Pic, languages designed for document preparation and typesetting, and how they capitalized on the concept of textual representations for graphics and mathematical notation.
- ✅ **Language Adoption and Use Cases**: He provides insights into how languages are often extended beyond their original use cases, leading to unexpected and creative applications, which can be a testament to their flexibility and power.
- ⏳ **Timeliness and Luck**: Kernighan suggests that the success of a programming language can be influenced by timing and luck, as it needs to meet the needs of the current technological landscape and user requirements.
Q & A
What is the main theme of Brian Kernighan's talk?
-The main theme of Brian Kernighan's talk is 'How to succeed in language design without really trying,' focusing on the importance of language design in programming and the evolution of programming languages.
Why did Brian Kernighan choose C as his preferred programming language if he were marooned on a desert island?
-Brian Kernighan chose C because of its versatility and the fact that it comes with a compiler, making it a powerful and efficient tool for a wide range of programming tasks.
What is the significance of the Tower of Babel image in the context of programming languages?
-The Tower of Babel image signifies the proliferation of programming languages, analogous to the confusion of languages that occurred in the biblical story, which led to the diversification of programming languages available to programmers.
Why did Brian Kernighan consider using AWK for a data processing task instead of C?
-Brian Kernighan considered using AWK because it was more efficient and better suited for text processing tasks. It was faster to write, more robust, and the language's design allowed for quick and easy data manipulation.
What is the importance of notation in programming languages?
-Notation is crucial in programming languages as it affects how easily a programmer can understand and use the language. Good notation can make a task significantly easier to accomplish, enhancing programmer efficiency and the overall programming experience.
What is the role of scripting languages in the ecosystem of programming languages?
-Scripting languages play a vital role by offering a more straightforward and flexible approach to automation and quick development tasks. They often manipulate text as a fundamental data type and include regular expressions, making them ideal for tasks like data processing and system administration.
Why did Brian Kernighan and his colleagues create the AWK programming language?
-They created AWK to address the need for a language that could perform simple one-liner programs efficiently, particularly for data selection, transformation, and report generation tasks, which were not well-served by existing languages like the UNIX shell.
What are the key features of the AWK programming language?
-AWK features include pattern-action programming, automatic input reading and line splitting, associative arrays for data structuring, and a syntax that resembles C for actions. It is designed to be used for string processing and text manipulation tasks.
How does the design of a programming language influence its success or failure?
-The design of a programming language influences its success or failure based on factors such as how well it solves a particular problem, its cultural and environmental compatibility, the strength of its community, and whether it meets the needs of its intended user base.
What are some reasons why programming languages might fail to thrive or become obsolete?
-Languages might fail to thrive or become obsolete due to factors such as their domain disappearing, being too complex or large, poor engineering, strong competition, changes in technology, and shifts in industry needs or preferences.
What is the significance of the Benjamin Whorf quote mentioned by Brian Kernighan?
-The Benjamin Whorf quote emphasizes the idea that language can shape the way we think and determine what we can think about. In the context of programming languages, this means that the design of a language can significantly influence how programmers approach and solve problems.
Outlines
🎓 Brian Kernighan's Introduction and Language Discussion
Brian Kernighan is welcomed back to Nottingham, where he discusses his appreciation for the Honorary Professor appointment. He leads into the topic of the talk: language design, specifically focusing on how to succeed in it without necessarily trying too hard. Kernighan uses the example of processing geological data to illustrate the differences between programming languages like C and AWK, emphasizing the importance of choosing the right tool for the job and the significance of notation in programming languages.
🗣️ The Proliferation of Programming Languages
Kernighan addresses the multitude of programming languages available, likening it to the Tower of Babel. He discusses the historical context of programming languages, starting from machine code in the 1940s, through assembly languages in the 1950s, high-level languages like FORTRAN and COBOL in the 1960s, and the evolution towards languages that could handle more complex computing tasks in the 1970s, such as C. Kernighan also touches on the importance of language features in aiding programmers in managing the structure and complexity of their code.
📈 The Evolution of Scripting and Domain-Specific Languages
The speaker delves into the rise of scripting languages and domain-specific languages (DSLs). He describes how scripting languages, with their text manipulation capabilities and relaxed typing, have become essential tools for programmers. Kernighan also talks about his experiences with creating DSLs, emphasizing their potential for simplifying tasks when designed with a specific problem in mind. He uses the example of AWK, a language he worked on, to illustrate the success and longevity of well-designed DSLs.
🔢 The Creation and Utility of AWK
Kernighan provides an overview of the creation and purpose of AWK, a scripting language designed for text processing and data manipulation. He explains how AWK is built on the concept of pattern-action pairs, which allows for concise and expressive code. Kernighan also discusses the design philosophy behind AWK, which includes automating as much as possible to reduce boilerplate code, and the importance of associative arrays in the language. He shares insights about the language's evolution and how it has been used in various contexts, including some unconventional ones.
🍕 The AMPL Language and its Application in Optimization
Kernighan introduces AMPL, a language designed for describing and solving optimization problems. He explains how AMPL allows users to express problems algebraically, which are then converted into a form that can be solved by an optimization solver. The speaker provides an example of the diet problem to illustrate how AMPL is used in practice. He also touches on the evolution of AMPL, including the addition of programming constructs to make it more powerful, and the trade-offs involved in expanding the language's capabilities.
📊 The Role of EQN and Pic in Document Preparation
The speaker discusses his work on EQN and Pic, two languages designed for document preparation with a focus on mathematical notation and graphics, respectively. EQN was created to translate the spoken language of mathematics into a form that could be typeset, while Pic allowed for the textual description of line drawings, which could then be rendered by a typesetting system. Kernighan reflects on the historical context and the limitations of computing resources at the time, which influenced the design of these languages.
🏞️ The Legacy and Evolution of Document Preparation Languages
Kernighan talks about the evolution of document preparation, highlighting how the process has changed from professional typesetters to authors using tools like PDF for submissions. He discusses the obsolescence of certain languages like Pic and EQN due to the rise of more advanced typesetting systems like TeX and LaTeX. The speaker also reflects on the idea of machine-generated input for creating documents and how it has influenced the development of document preparation languages.
🌐 The Success and Failure of Programming Languages
In the final paragraph, Kernighan contemplates the reasons behind the success and failure of programming languages. He emphasizes the importance of notation, cultural and environmental compatibility, and the ability to solve problems effectively. The speaker also discusses the impact of open-source versus proprietary models on a language's adoption and longevity. He concludes with a note on the inevitability of change and the opportunities it presents for the creation of new, innovative programming languages.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Language Design
💡AWK
💡C Programming Language
💡Efficiency
💡Domain-Specific Languages (DSL)
💡Regular Expressions
💡Scripting Languages
💡High-Level Languages
💡Compiler
💡Text Processing
💡Programming Paradigm
Highlights
Brian Kernighan discusses the importance of language design in programming, emphasizing the significance of notation and programmer efficiency.
Kernighan shares his experience of writing a program in C versus AWK, highlighting the trade-offs between language choice and task suitability.
The audience's preferred programming languages for a given task are revealed, showing a variety of choices including AWK, Shell, and even Assembler.
Kernighan's anecdote about being marooned on a desert island with a C compiler underscores his affinity for the language despite its complexities.
The evolution of programming languages from the 1940s to the 2010s is summarized, showcasing the progression from machine code to high-level and domain-specific languages.
The Tower of Babel analogy is used to illustrate the proliferation of programming languages and the challenges it presents.
Kernighan reflects on the efficiency of programming languages, differentiating between programmer efficiency and machine efficiency.
The role of scripting languages in programming is explored, with examples like AWK, Perl, and JavaScript highlighting their utility for text manipulation and rapid development.
A live audience survey reveals the popularity and familiarity of AWK among the attendees, emphasizing its enduring relevance.
Kernighan's discussion on the design principles of AWK provides insights into creating a language that automates common tasks and leverages patterns and actions.
The versatility of associative arrays in AWK is demonstrated through a simple example of calculating a budget for beer and pizza.
Lessons learned from the use and abuse of AWK are shared, including the importance of stability in language design and the challenges of introducing new features.
The introduction of AMPL, a language for mathematical optimization, shows how domain-specific languages can be powerful tools when tailored to particular problems.
Kernighan contrasts the success of AMPL in industry with its relative obscurity, suggesting that specialized languages can thrive in niche applications.
The importance of open-source software is debated, with Kernighan highlighting the sustainability of proprietary models under certain conditions.
Kernighan's recount of his work on EQN and Pic, languages for mathematical notation and graphics within documents, illustrates the historical context and evolution of document preparation.
The impact of technological advancements, such as the advent of PDF and modern typesetting systems, on the relevance and usage of older languages like Troff is discussed.
Kernighan concludes with a call to action for creating new domain-specific languages, suggesting that there is still a significant opportunity for innovation in language design.
Transcripts
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