Programming language design on TrustLang

If you think you know how "Expression" differs from "Statement", then most likely you are mistaken

Sun, 02 Aug 2026 00:00:00 +0000

I study the syntax of programming languages and try to separate fundamental regularities from historical accidents. One of such accidents is the almost ubiquitous use of the terms expression and statement when describing and classifying the syntax of programming languages.

Intuitively it seems that 2 + 2 and if (x) { foo(); } are completely different entities, but on a deeper analysis it turns out that such a separation is artificial and arose from the architectural features of computing machines almost half a century ago and since then simply “carries over” from language to language.

Building blocks of programming languages

Fri, 03 May 2024 00:00:00 +0000

As a result of the feedback on the article with reflections on structured programming, there were many comments and disputes in the comments, for which I want to say a big thank you to everyone.

And under the impression of the discussion of the previous article, I asked myself whether there exists a minimal set of lexemes, operators or syntactic constructs with the help of which one can build an arbitrary grammar for a modern general-purpose programming language?

A possible solution to the problem of references in programming languages

Tue, 23 Apr 2024 00:00:00 +0000

Any programmer is familiar with the notion of a “reference”. This term usually means a small object whose main task is to provide access to another object physically located elsewhere. Because of this, references are convenient to use, they are easily copied, and with their help it is very easy to gain access to the object that the reference refers to, and one can gain access to the same data from different places in the program.

A new programming language

Fri, 18 Feb 2022 00:00:00 +0000

Attention!!!

This article contains a description of the syntax of the previous version of NewLang.

The current version of the language syntax can be viewed here.

More than a year ago I began publishing articles describing the features of a new programming language. Much water has flowed under the bridge since then, many ideas were tested, in the end everything changed radically several times, and now I present to the readers a description of the pre-final version of the language and its features.

An unusual concept of the syntax of a programming language

Mon, 24 May 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Attention!!!

This article contains a description of the syntax of the previous version of NewLang.

The current version of the language syntax can be viewed here.

I want to present to the readers’ discussion a somewhat unusual concept of a programming language, which lacks the problem inherent in almost all industrial languages — the constant increase in the complexity of the language syntax due to its natural development as new versions are released and new features are added. This problem is described in the article “Simple complex programming” and What is the “ideal” goal of the development of programming languages?

What is the "ideal" goal of the development of programming languages?

Wed, 07 Apr 2021 00:00:00 +0000

Information about the release of a new version of one or another programming language appears with constant regularity. And with each new version its capabilities expand, new syntactic constructs or other improvements are added.

And this very much resembles the development of technology, as in any other field of engineering. When, with each successive stage, the creations being made are perfected. Faster, higher, stronger … and at the same time significantly more complex.

International programming in natural languages

Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:00:00 +0000

Attention!!!

This article contains a description of the syntax of the previous version of NewLang.

The current version of the language syntax can be viewed here.

Lately I often come across articles about new programming languages, as well as various ratings and forecasts related to the popularity of computer languages.

New tooling also announces itself, which in its work uses its own formats for describing configuration files or sequences of executed commands, which also brings them very close to the notion of a “programming language”.