syntax

Programming Language Syntax Comparison - part 5: Project Launch!

Posted on by NMK

You may have noticed...

There's a new tab at the top of my site. A great big shiny new button that says Syntax Compare. That's right! The "Dynamic, Programming Language Syntax Comparison" page is up and running!

The new front page of my web project

A lot of work got done this past week, and there are quite a few experiences I ran into I'd like to share now that the project has been released. Of course just because the page has been launched, doesn't mean its finished. There is always just one more functionality enhancement; a practically endless amount of data entry potential; and I've already had a clever idea for a completely new content section for the page!

But before we get ahead of ourselves, lets catch up with where we left off last time.

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Project: Programming Language Syntax Comparison - part 2

Posted on by NMK

Project: Language Syntax Comparison - XML vs Database

When people are approaching a new problem, they tend to want to solve it using the tools they are most familiar with. In this case, I can recall using XML as a manner of sending data and configurations in a number of projects I've developed in the past. It is something I've worked with before and the text document like data I'm working with seems like it would fit well. Once I started thinking about scalability however, the limitations of an xml based plan became apparent.

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Project: Codeing Language Syntax Comparison

Posted on by NMK

Challenge: Create a webpage that can dynamically compare two computer language's syntax

After having been a VB.NET developer for sometime, I was looking to get back into C++ and C# for some projects. That was when I stumbled over this webpage created by a Professor at Harding University. Since most computer languages follow the same basic logic and merely differ in syntax, this page allows someone to quickly compare the use of a language they know to one they are unfamiliar with. Showing actual code examples of the two languages side by side, I can quickly grab the context of how the language is used at a glance.

In this case it compares VB.NET and C# languages; but there is another page comparing C# and Java, and even one for Java script and VB script. But later on when I was interested in Java, comparing it to VB.NET would require first having to look up the syntax on the VB to C# page, and then again on the C# to Java page. Which defeats the purpose of doing a comparison as opposed to simply looking the syntax up.

So I got to thinking, what if I could build a page where you could choose which two languages to compare side by side? If built the right way, it could even allow the addition of more languages in the future. The project seems simple in scope, but will still require a good amount of design. It will also give me the chance to build a web site using HTML, XML, PHP, and some scripting; while getting my hands in a bunch of coding languages as well.

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