Re: [xml-dev] which class of programming languages, XML Schemalanguage b

[Pete Cordell <pete++xmldev@codalogic.com>]

On 11/03/2022 08:48, Michael Kay wrote:
> Well, I would say that XSD is indeed a "formal computer language", but not a "programming language"; I don't think you can describe something as a programming language unless it is Turing-complete.
>
> I don't know of any universally accepted categorisation scheme for formal computer languages, and without such a scheme you can't say where a particular language fits; but it's certainly reasonable to describe XSD as a constraint specification language or as a data definition language (if indeed those two categories are distinct).
A related perma-topic is "Is HTML a programming language?"

I'm in the "No, because it is not Turing-complete" camp (for example, it 
has no conditionals) but it does instruct a computer to do things and so 
others say it is.

I'd say if "programming language" was a spectrum, HTML would be more of 
a programming language than XSD.

To add more confusion, for most programming languages such as C++ and 
Java, it's very specific what the language tells the computer to do.

With XSD, the XSD can be used in many ways by a computer.  Does that 
suggest it is "something else"?

Pete.
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Pete Cordell
Codalogic Ltd
Read & write XML in C++, http://www.xml2cpp.com
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