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Questions tagged [language-specifications]

The language specification is the syntax, grammar, intended results, and model the language operates upon.

The programming language specification is the specifics of the syntax and the grammar used for the language. This may additionally include information about the intended behavior of the various operands and the model that the language operates on.

The syntax is often defined as a series of regular expressions (lexing) and a grammar (often context-free) that describes the valid structures within the language.

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Why did Java make package access default?

I'm asking this question because I believe they did it for a very good reason and that most people do not use it properly, well from my experience in industry so far anyway. But if my theory is true then I'm not sure why they included the private…
newlogic
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Why does the C++ standard still allow uninitialized primitive variables?

If reading uninitialized memory is undefined behavior anyway, why has the C++ standard not been changed so that objects of primitive type (int, unsigned, float, double, bool, char) get default-initialized to 0? Wouldn't this prevent an entire class…
darkblueflow
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Can we ever fully, completely specify anything?

This question is more theoretical than practical. Imagine we have an intelligent machine that if is fed with a fully complete specification of an object then that machine will produce exactly that object, and not anything else. Now, can we ever…
CuongHuyTo
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Is there a language agnostic term for statement parameters?

Is there a general term for the code that sets the parameters of statements require some kind of initialization or bounds? Examples: C: for (x=0; x
skrrgwasme
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In UML, can a component be placed inside a node?

in UML deployment diagrams, the node element is used to represent a "computational resource" (in other words, something that can run software). I know that nodes may have other nodes placed inside them (to imply nesting), and that they may have…
vvye
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Resources for understanding a programming language and its specifications and grammar deeply

I'm a computer engineer and all the courses we have had about programming and computer languages were an introduction to C/Java and OOP. Now I feel like reading Java language specification to learn a deep understanding on Java language but I…
user1892555
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Variable assignment in ECMAScript specification in detail

I am trying to wrap my head around what the ECMAScript specification suggests about variable assignment. Introduction: Coming from Java, this is pretty straight forward. Variables get stored at a memory location and assigning one variable to another…
tweekz
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Term to describe keyword followed by statement block

Is there a general term to describe a keyword followed by a statement block? E.G. if() {statement block} while() {statement block} try{statement block} finally{statement block} Or even something made up: controlScope{statement block}
P.Brian.Mackey
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When has C or C++ made itself intentionally backwards incompatible?

Context ( You can skip ) I will be doing a presentation on Python, and will be touching upon V3's decision to be intentionally backwards incompatible, and how that has affected Python long term. I will be examining in particular their decision to…
Anon
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