Metalinguistic Abstraction - Explanation

Explanation

For example, consider modelling an airport inside a computer. A procedural (e.g. C) programmer would create data structures to represent the elements of an airport and functions to operate on those data structures. An object-oriented (e.g. C++) programmer would create objects to represent the elements of the airport with methods which represent their behaviors. A functional (e.g. Scheme) programmer would create functions representing both elements and behaviors of the airport. A metalinguistic programmer would abstract the problem by creating a new language for modelling an airport with its own primitives and operations. The language could then encompass any or all of the above techniques as required by the problem at hand.

Because the creation of functional metalinguistic abstractions in non-functional languages can be cumbersome and also because of the syntactic flexibility of functional macros, metalinguistic programming is most often performed on a functional base.

Read more about this topic:  Metalinguistic Abstraction

Famous quotes containing the word explanation:

    To develop an empiricist account of science is to depict it as involving a search for truth only about the empirical world, about what is actual and observable.... It must involve throughout a resolute rejection of the demand for an explanation of the regularities in the observable course of nature, by means of truths concerning a reality beyond what is actual and observable, as a demand which plays no role in the scientific enterprise.
    Bas Van Fraassen (b. 1941)

    Herein is the explanation of the analogies, which exist in all the arts. They are the re-appearance of one mind, working in many materials to many temporary ends. Raphael paints wisdom, Handel sings it, Phidias carves it, Shakspeare writes it, Wren builds it, Columbus sails it, Luther preaches it, Washington arms it, Watt mechanizes it. Painting was called “silent poetry,” and poetry “speaking painting.” The laws of each art are convertible into the laws of every other.
    Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)

    Young children constantly invent new explanations to account for complex processes. And since their inventions change from week to week, furnishing the “correct” explanation is not quite so important as conveying a willingness to discuss the subject. Become an “askable parent.”
    Ruth Formanek (20th century)