Metalinguistic abstraction
Encyclopedia
In computer science
, metalinguistic abstraction is the process of solving complex problems by creating a new language or vocabulary to better understand the problem space. It is a recurring theme in the seminal MIT
textbook, the Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
, which uses Scheme as a framework for constructing new languages.
) programmer would create data structures to represent the elements of an airport and functions to operate on those data structures. An object-oriented (e.g. C++
) programmer would create object
s to represent the elements of the airport with method
s which represent their behaviors. A functional
(e.g. Scheme) programmer would create functions representing both elements and behaviors of the airport. A metalinguistic programmer would abstract the problem by creating a new language for modelling an airport with its own primitives and operations. The language could then encompass any or all of the above techniques as required by the problem at hand.
Because the creation of functional metalinguistic abstractions in non-functional languages can be cumbersome and also because of the syntactic flexibility of functional macros, metalinguistic programming is most often performed on a functional base.
Computer science
Computer science or computing science is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computation and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems...
, metalinguistic abstraction is the process of solving complex problems by creating a new language or vocabulary to better understand the problem space. It is a recurring theme in the seminal MIT
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
The Massachusetts Institute of Technology is a private research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts. MIT has five schools and one college, containing a total of 32 academic departments, with a strong emphasis on scientific and technological education and research.Founded in 1861 in...
textbook, the Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs is a textbook published in 1984 about general computer programming concepts from MIT Press written by Massachusetts Institute of Technology professors Harold Abelson and Gerald Jay Sussman, with Julie Sussman...
, which uses Scheme as a framework for constructing new languages.
Explanation
For example, consider modelling an airport inside a computer. A procedural (e.g. CC (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
) programmer would create data structures to represent the elements of an airport and functions to operate on those data structures. An object-oriented (e.g. C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
) programmer would create object
Object (computer science)
In computer science, an object is any entity that can be manipulated by the commands of a programming language, such as a value, variable, function, or data structure...
s to represent the elements of the airport with method
Method (computer science)
In object-oriented programming, a method is a subroutine associated with a class. Methods define the behavior to be exhibited by instances of the associated class at program run time...
s which represent their behaviors. A functional
Functional programming
In computer science, functional programming is a programming paradigm that treats computation as the evaluation of mathematical functions and avoids state and mutable data. It emphasizes the application of functions, in contrast to the imperative programming style, which emphasizes changes in state...
(e.g. Scheme) programmer would create functions representing both elements and behaviors of the airport. A metalinguistic programmer would abstract the problem by creating a new language for modelling an airport with its own primitives and operations. The language could then encompass any or all of the above techniques as required by the problem at hand.
Because the creation of functional metalinguistic abstractions in non-functional languages can be cumbersome and also because of the syntactic flexibility of functional macros, metalinguistic programming is most often performed on a functional base.
See also
- Domain-specific language
- Domain-specific multimodelingDomain-specific multimodelingDomain-specific multimodelingis a software development paradigm where each view is made explicit as a separate domain-specific language .Successful development of a modern enterprise system requires the convergence of multiple views...
- Mathematical notationMathematical notationMathematical notation is a system of symbolic representations of mathematical objects and ideas. Mathematical notations are used in mathematics, the physical sciences, engineering, and economics...
- Language-oriented programmingLanguage-oriented programmingLanguage oriented programming is a style of computer programming in which, rather than solving problems in general-purpose programming languages, the programmer creates one or more domain-specific languages for the problem first, and solves the problem in those languages...