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Scripting languages, markup languages, database querying languages, etc. Are all types of programming languages. A program is a set of instructions for a computer to follow.

HTML is a programming language, fight me.

Comments
  • 5
    https://codegolf.meta.stackexchange.com/... has the final word on this and every question about whether X is a programming language.
  • 0
  • 4
    Does it really matter?
  • 3
    @AlgoRythm says the code golf people who are obviously always right
  • 8
    Soo, give me an example where someone created a program with HTML
  • 3
    @Linux does replacing the extension of the .txt to .html count ?
  • 2
    I like your Rythm Algo
  • 15
    If HTML is a set of instructions, then a bitmap image is a set of instructions as well
  • 4
    @Kaeladar
    And a config file too
  • 8
    @Kaeladar announcing the latest ide for all your programming needs, MS Paint!
  • 9
    Even the name says it is a markup language htMl...
  • 5
  • 1
    @anicka-burova came here to comment this!!! 😂
  • 0
    LOGO, Basic were also programming lamguages?
  • 1
    I believe Professor Brailsford to be better qualified to talk about this than probably anyone on devRant, especially more than some guy on SE.

    https://youtu.be/4A2mWqLUpzw
  • 2
    ... and brainfuck is a completely sensible and high level programming language -_-
  • 9
    @Fydrenak, I just gave to this professor my 9 minutes of my life, and all what he achieved is: "in restricted sense, even I am a programming language, every time I ask somebody to answer my question, I am actually calling a function which returns me a result, and even better, I am actually turing complete, so I am closer to be a programming language than html"
  • 2
    I guess with your arguing you could also say that H265 is also a algorithm.
    But what defines a programming language is that your programm can decide what to do based on available information.
    So in short: if, else, ...
    HTML does NOT have such things. Therefore it is no programming language.
    Good luck creating something like snake WITH only html that actually works.
  • 0
    I miss you, old Netscape :'(
  • 1
    HTML doesn't do any processing. Check m8
  • 2
    <!DOCTYPE html>
    <html>
    <body>

    <h1>My First Program</h1>
    <p>Hello World.</p>

    </body>
    </html>
  • 0
    @Linux 1337-Programmer :P

    If HTML is a programming language yaml, XML and Json are too ?

    HTML is a set of instructions for a program to do stuff not the computer
  • 0
    @SHA-256 @Kaeladar JSON and images are data structures. I'd consider them programming languages if you hand-code them, but they are usually generated. JSON is a special case because it's the basis of JavaScript, a programming language.
  • 0
    To continue;

    Languages like HTML follow a logical structure, and produces an output. Why are only scripting languages considered programming languages? This is entirely incorrect and definitely bothers me incredibly, especially because the programming community is usually so logical about this stuff, but this topic seems to be based off arbitrary criteria when most of anything with logical structure and some sort of output should be considered a programming language.
  • 0
    @AlgoRythm HTML doesn't produce an output...it's a program (e.g. Browser)
  • 0
    @SHA-256 Neither does python, the python interpreter does.
  • 0
    @Condor Turing completeness is an arbitrary set of rules which I disagree with. Are people who make static websites not programmers? Of course they are, albeit simple ones. Turing completeness should be a trait of scripting languages. Programming is an incredibly broad spectrum and I don't understand nor agree with how specific people seem to interpret it as, and am presenting my argument as such.
  • 1
    People who make static websites are coders. A programmer makes programs. A program is able to execute instructions. An instruction can either be a comparison between two numbers, a call to a function, etc. HTML does not execute instructions, neither does XML, like others commented. It simply declares the structure of the website as it is, and for the same html, the same website is always generated. So it cannot be a program.
  • 1
    also this.
    Pls don't mention me, i don't wanna get involved in this. Also, if useless addition, then leave it alone, but AR using 10 line of HTML is nice
    https://medium.com/arjs/...
  • 0
    @PysKa512 If I told you "Put a rock in the garden, 10 inches from the north end" is that not an instruction?
  • 1
    @AlgoRythm exactly, u did give the command to do so. On the other hand, html just place a mark, and let me to go, find the mark and place the rock.
  • 0
    @Condor HTML is interpreted by a browser, Lua and Python by their respective interpreters, c is compiled, my argument is that even thought HTML is helped out a lot by it's environment (The browser does most of the work) it is still a list of logical instructions for a computer to follow, in HTML's case, to dictate how pixels appear on a screen. When you break it down, it's all just programming.
  • 1
    If you want to look at it this way so:
    Mam: "go and tidy up your room!"
    Is she now a programmer?
    Girlfriend: "do me from behind!"
    Is she now a front end programmer?
    A little baby cries, clearly instructing me to feed it or change a nappy.
    Oh my, my 3 months old baby is already a programmer.
    The dog is jumping at the door...
  • 1
    @anicka-burova you're taking my examples and using them quite a bit too literally. We are still talking about computers ;)
  • 1
    @AlgoRythm and that was my point. Programming language has defined set of attributes. You decided to ignore couple, so html can be a programming lang as well. I decided to ignore the fact, programming language is computer related.
  • 1
    @AlgoRythm if you instructed me to "Put a rock in the garden, 10 inches from the north end", the second time you give me this command will always result in the same result, no matter how complex it seems. However, what if you instructed me to "Place a rock in the garden if we are in February, otherwise place a flower." will result in different results deppending on the date I execute the command ;)
  • 2
    @AlgoRythm i know I'm hopping in late here, but Turing completeness isn't an arbitrary set of rules in any way shape or form. For a language to be Turing complete, it must be able to decide any computational question that is decidable by *any* process whether that be natural, physical, or extraterrestrial (to abbreviate the Church-Turing Thesis). This means that (computationally speaking) i am no more powerful than Lua, or Python, or C. In fact, restricting programming languages to being Turing complete is what allows us to do all of these amazing things with them. You say Turing completeness restricts the spectrum of programming languages, but I challenge you to find a programming language that is not Turing complete.

    A few questions for you to ponder.

    Would you consider RegExp to be a programming language?

    What about JSON?

    What about GIF?

    What about a DFA?

    Now ask yourself, is HTML any more a programming language than any of the above?
  • 0
    @AngryDev I've already expressed my opinion on the JSON / image file thing, and why is Turing completeness the standard for a language? Just because someone said so?
  • 3
    @AlgoRythm sure, but you have not expressed anything on regexp or DFAs. In terms of your argument that "oh it needs to be hard coded to be a programming language", let me remind you that in its early days, JSON was often hardcoded. In fact, people still hardcode JSON, and conversely, one can easily generate an HTML website without ever writing any HTML, much like you can do with JSON.

    To address the second half of your response, I still don't think you grasp what Turing completeness really means. It means the language is capable of doing anything. That means if I write a program in C, I can do anything I can do in JAVA. Or in Python. Or in LaTeX. Or in HTML. But if I write something in HTML I can't do anything I can do in C.
  • 0
    According to mw dict online a program is "a sequence of coded instructions that can be inserted into a mechanism (such as a computer)" so if HTML markup can do that (with a browser as a compiler) then why isn't HTML considered a 'programming language'?
  • 0
    ... and my arse is a shit factory and my cock is a c...

    If you throw logic and facts out of window, you can argue anything. Like global warming not being real
  • 0
    @Kryptic You have to look up the definition of computer instruction as well...
  • 0
    If you know machine language, which is the language of the CPU (the set of instructions the CPU can execute), you will see that HTML can do none of that.
  • 0
    @PysKa512 HTML forces the browser to make calculations to display controls such as images that are 80% the width of their parent.
  • 2
    @AlgoRythm Fine. Can you write me a pure HTML page that gives me my age given the date I was born?
  • 0
    @PysKa512 Sounds like a scripting language to me
  • 1
    @LicensedCrime

    Sorry mate, cannot parse your invalid markup

    </rant>
  • 3
    I feel like if we put a load of developers in a small room, shouted "HTML is a programming language" and then locked the door we could somehow harness the energy to power a small city...
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