There are almost
always good reasons for irregularities, but, other things being equal, a more regular language is more desirable.
Computer scientists praise languages that are extensible. Many languages today allow the writer to define
new data types, for instance. That was not an option in early versions of FORTRAN, which came on the scene
supporting only integers and floating-point data types. Languages can also be extended by adding to libraries
of shared routines. A language like LISP even allows the writer to extend the keywords of the language by
writing new functions.
Standardization is another advantage; a language with a formal standard encourages wider adoption. Ada, C,
Cobol, Java, and many others now boast international standards for the languages. Perl, on the other hand, does
not??”Perl is whatever Larry Wall and the Perl Porters decide they want ???everyone??™s favorite Swiss Army
Chainsaw??? to be (http://www.perl.com/pub/a/2000/04/whatsnew.html).
Another desirable property of a language is machine independence. Java is the best example of a machineindependent
language. Given that a Java Virtual Machine is available for the host hardware, the same Java
source code should run the same way on any machine.
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