• Bob@feddit.nl
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    8 months ago

    I’m not a programmer so I’m tending towards accepting HTML as a programming language, because it’s a language you type in to make the computer do stuff. Is there maybe another example of something that does what HTML does but obviously isn’t a programming language?

    • pancakes@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      Markup language vs programming language is similar to the difference between a font and a typeface. Sure, they’re different but to the layperson, they might as well be the same thing.

    • labsin@sh.itjust.works
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      8 months ago

      A PowerPoint, word document or even a text file or picture. There is only a description in the file of what it holds and it’s up to the program that reads it, how it will visualize or interpret it.

      A word document or PDF would be the closest.

      • Bob@feddit.nl
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        8 months ago

        You mean the code behind the scenes is like HTML? But then I don’t see how it’s not in a programming language.

        • labsin@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          No, the html file itself. It just contains elements like a paragraph, image, list, table,… just like a word document.

          • Bob@feddit.nl
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            8 months ago

            So you mean for example that typing <p>…</p> is more comporable pressing enter in Microsoft Word? But then you’re typing a code instead, no?

            • CapeWearingAeroplane@sopuli.xyz
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              8 months ago

              Yes, typing <p> in HTML is like pressing enter in word, but that doesn’t make it a programming language, it makes it a markup language.

              A markup language is also what you can use to format comments here: You use a specific syntax to indicate how you want things formatted.

              The separation from a programming language is that a programming language can be used to implement logic, like saying: In the following paragraph, a word should be bold if it contains the letter “A”. That cannot be done with a markup language.

        • labsin@sh.itjust.works
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          8 months ago

          A word document can also contain a script, as can html pages. It’s why I thought these two were the closest match. Nobody is going to call those programming languages.