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The meaning or [[semantics]] of any particular construct in a programming language is most commonly described in fairly precise English. Several unsuccessful attempts have been made to find a useful and formal way of describing the semantics.
The meaning or [[semantics]] of any particular construct in a programming language is most commonly described in fairly precise English. Several unsuccessful attempts have been made to find a useful and formal way of describing the semantics.
The more important programming languages have an internationally agreed official standard (ISO is the international standards organisation, ANSI is the standards body in the United States). In theory, programs which conform to the relevant standard should be usable on most types of computer; this works in practice most of the time, provided that the programmers have been careful to avoid machine dependencies. Such agreed standards are usually revised every 5 to 15 years, often with new features being added, and sometimes with old features being either removed or marked as obsolete.
The more important programming languages have an internationally agreed official standard (ISO is the international standards organization, ANSI is the standards body in the United States). In theory, programs which conform to the relevant standard should be usable on most types of computer; this works in practice most of the time, provided that the programmers have been careful to avoid machine dependencies. Such agreed standards are usually revised every 5 to 15 years, often with new features being added, and sometimes with old features being either removed or marked as obsolete.
Very few programmers learn a programming language directly from the formal definition, which exists primarily as a reference which can be consulted in cases of doubt. There are usually plenty of books and training courses for the more common programming languages.
Very few programmers learn a programming language directly from the formal definition, which exists primarily as a reference which can be consulted in cases of doubt. There are usually plenty of books and training courses for the more common programming languages.