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| Authored by: ghopper on Monday, May 07 2012 @ 01:01 PM EDT |
That argument only strengthens my point. There are already too
many languages in the world. If everyone used his own personal
language, then no two people or devices would be able to
communicate. This applies equally to spoken and computer
languages. We came to this conclusion long ago, which is why
we have a standard syntax and grammar for language. When
programming at a high-level, the API is simply the means to
communicate with the underlying system. Without an API, you
would need to program on bare metal, in zeros and ones.
I agree that creating a good API is costly and time-consuming,
with a large part of the cost going into advertising the API
until you reach a critical mass. Without this critical mass of
application developers, the API loses its value as a tool of
communication. Google invented several new languages a few
years ago, but they were smart enough to realize that it would
take at least 10 years to get critical mass. They selected the
Java API for Android, due to its popularity and its apparently
open nature. This benefited both platforms.
[ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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| Authored by: bprice on Monday, May 07 2012 @ 04:55 PM EDT |
Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose.
There are plenty,
and in fact, too many computer
languages around right now.
That
was the point of the famous cover illustration of the January 1961 issue of the
Communications of the ACM, called the 'Tower of Babel' issue. Your point was
observed over 50 years ago.---
--Bill. NAL: question the answers,
especially mine. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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