Von Neumann Programming Languages
A von Neumann language is any of those programming languages that are high-level abstract isomorphic copies of von Neumann architectures. As of 2009, most current programming languages fit into this description, likely as a consequence of the extensive domination of the von Neumann computer architecture during the past 50 years.
The differences between Fortran, C, and even Java, although considerable, are ultimately constrained by all three being based on the programming style of the von Neumann computer. If, for example, Java objects were all executed in parallel with asynchronous message passing and attribute-based declarative addressing, then Java would not be in the group.
The isomorphism between von Neumann programming languages and architectures is in the following manner:
- program variables ↔ computer storage cells
- control statements ↔ computer test-and-jump instructions
- assignment statements ↔ fetching, storing instructions
- expressions ↔ memory reference and arithmetic instructions
Read more about Von Neumann Programming Languages: Criticism, Presence in Modern Systems
Famous quotes containing the words von, neumann, programming and/or languages:
“You will find the most pronounced hatred of other nations on the lowest cultural levels. There is, though, a level where the hatred disappears completely and where one so to speak stands above the nations and where one experiences fortune or misfortune of a neighboring country as if they had happened to one’s own.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“It means there are times when a mere scientist has gone as far as he can. When he must pause and observe respectfully while something infinitely greater assumes control.”
—Kurt Neumann (1906–1958)
“If there is a price to pay for the privilege of spending the early years of child rearing in the driver’s seat, it is our reluctance, our inability, to tolerate being demoted to the backseat. Spurred by our success in programming our children during the preschool years, we may find it difficult to forgo in later states the level of control that once afforded us so much satisfaction.”
—Melinda M. Marshall (20th century)
“The less sophisticated of my forbears avoided foreigners at all costs, for the very good reason that, in their circles, speaking in tongues was commonly a prelude to snake handling. The more tolerant among us regarded foreign languages as a kind of speech impediment that could be overcome by willpower.”
—Barbara Ehrenreich (b. 1941)