Secure Coding mailing list archives
RE: Programming languages used for security
From: "Wall, Kevin" <Kevin.Wall () qwest com>
Date: Sat, 10 Jul 2004 21:51:03 +0100
David Crocker wrote:
Whilst I agree that the distinction between specification and programming languages is not completely clear cut, there is nevertheless a fundamental difference between specification and programming. In a programming language, you tell the computer what you want it to do, normally by way of sequential statements and loops. You do not tell the computer what you are trying to achieve.
[snip]
In a specification language, you tell the computer what you are trying to achieve, not how to achieve it. This is typically done by expressing the desired relationship between the input state and the output state. The state itself is normally modelled at a higher level of abstraction than in programming (e.g. you wouldn't refer to a hash table, because that is implementation detail; you would refer to a set or mapping instead).
I'm sorry, but I don't quite see how this description sufficiently delineates between declarative programming languages (such as SQL, various logic and functional prog langs (Prolog, ML, Haskell, Miranda, etc.)) from specification languages. Do you consider them declarative programming languages and specification languages one in the same? (Note: PLEASE, let's not turn this into a discussion of language X is / is not a declarative programming language, especially since the last time I used Prolog was in 1989 and the others I've only read about and/or wrote a few toy programs. ;-) My impression always has always been that a declarative programming language is a high-level language that describes a problem rather than defining a solution, but that pretty much sounds like your definition of a specification language. -kevin wall --- Kevin W. Wall Qwest Information Technology, Inc. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Phone: 614.215.4788 "The reason you have people breaking into your software all over the place is because your software sucks..." -- Former whitehouse cybersecurity advisor, Richard Clarke, at eWeek Security Summit
Current thread:
- Re: Programming languages used for security, (continued)
- Re: Programming languages used for security Crispin Cowan (Jul 09)
- RE: Programming languages used for security David Crocker (Jul 09)
- Re: Programming languages used for security Crispin Cowan (Jul 09)
- Re: Programming languages used for security Dana Epp (Jul 10)
- Re: Programming languages used for security Crispin Cowan (Jul 10)
- RE: Programming languages used for security David Crocker (Jul 10)
- Re: Programming languages used for security der Mouse (Jul 10)
- Re: Programming languages used for security Crispin Cowan (Jul 09)
- Re: Programming languages used for security der Mouse (Jul 10)
- Re: Programming languages used for security James Walden (Jul 10)