Poll: Do you consider HTML a programming language?
Thursday September 7, 2006
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Technically, HTML is a markup language, not a programming language. But when I was trying to define the difference, it seemed like HTML (or HTML along with something like PHP or ColdFusion) could do all the same things. What do you think the difference is?
Comments
HTML defines the way content is displayed on a web page. Scripting Languages such as PHP, Coldfusion handle input data from a web page, dynamically manipulate the output of data for a web page, or possibly even pass and retrieve data to and from a database (javascript cannot). Most scripting languages also require a pre-processor of sorts to handle the translation. A ’stand-alone’ programming language - C or C++ - can handle processes on many levels including those running at the level of the system’s kernel, by specifying header files to call necessary and optional predefined functionality. Assembly Language is at the root of it all, using binary instructions to manipulate the route of data through the circuitry; However, I’m sure that someone else can provide a better description than that.
HTML is a programming language… How can you say that it is not? Sure, you can’t make exquisite things with HTML alone, but it still is a language. Maybe people don’t consider it one because they use a program to help them generate the code, but I’m old school and love my notepad! Granted, I do use PHP and CSS with my HTML, because it takes it a step (well, several) farther…
But don’t deny HTML it’s right to be called a programming language. We would all be sad if people didn’t use HTML, and all we got was text over the internet…
HTML is not a programming language, it’s a MARKUP language. There’s no logic in HTML, it’s all about presentation (or semantics), no action at all.
Thus, it can never be considered programming.
So because we ‘can’t live’ without HTML, it must be a programming language? That’s of course not true. As said by others, HTML is not a programming language. It’s a markup language by definition. There is no room voor discussion on these kind of definitions.
HTML: markup language, no math (/logic) involved and is only used for presentation.
PHP/CF/ASP/etc: scripting language. Is not pre-compiled but does involve math. Also no options for GUI since they use HTML/CSS for that.
C++(or #)/Java/etc: programming language since it’s possible to build complete software with logic and presentation.
are you stupid?
html IS A MARKUP language
only used to diaply stuff
think before u act
It’s a goddamn Mark-Up Languange. You can’t create programs with it outside of a web browser. HyperTextMARKUPLanguage! Even in a web browser you need to make it PHP or Java.
Definitions
1. Markup language is a notation for identifying the components of a document to enable each component to be appropriately formatted, displayed, or used. (from http://www.learningservices.gcal.ac.uk/it/staff/definitions.html#M)
2. Program: A list of instructions that a computer follows to perform a task. (from http://www.flw.com/define_p.htm)
Sounds pretty different to me.
It is NOT a programming language, anyone that works with real programming languages knows this. As stated above it a MARKUP language used to define the structure of a document.
HTML is not a “programming language” because it dosen’t accept any input or generate any dynamic output. Aside from browser differences an HTML page will always look the same, you can’t put in different information and expect different results like you can with a computer program.
The definition of Programming according to dictionary.com, when related to computers =
a. a systematic plan for the automatic solution of a problem by a computer.
b. the precise sequence of instructions enabling a computer to solve a problem.
HTML does not solve problems dynamically or “automatically”. It merely tells the browser how to display objects or elements on a page. If you believe that HTML is a programming language, then you should consider asking yourself this same question after a few more years of experience…. or, you’re simply stubborn.
Obviously HTML is not a programming language. I would however quibble with the distinction that says that PHP is ‘just’ a scripting language, whereas languages like C are fully-fledged programming languages. C itself has no built-in way to handle a GUI - that is all done via libraries - it is not built into the C language itself.
seems to me, that a better discussion, would be around PHP and if it is a programming language, or ‘just’ a scripting language… or both.
How stupid is this?
HTML is a markup language and by no means a programming language. It can’t do anything but show things.
Next you call XML a programming language? Same thing.
Jason: I agree, the PHP question would be an intersting one - but not one that would be covered by this site. There is an About.com Guide to PHP.
HTML is not a programming language. (ffs)
However, after several jobs as a web producer, project manager, and web systems director. I have heard much more people make reference to a front-end developer as a HTML programmer than anything else.
HTML is a langauge but not a PROGRAMMING language just like Page Control Languages used to control laser and other printers or markup languages used to control phototypsetters. It has nothing to do with programming which creates an appliction that can exploit all the functionality of hardware and communications. HTML is only about displaying stuff in browsers
Learned to do web sites back on WebTv years ago and now have leraned to use it along with others scripts like free javascripts as I go along. But learned to do it when only 2 megs of space were available. On puter now but remember when……..
HTML is absouletly NOT a programming language. HTML is used for presentation in Web Browsers. A programming language contains statements of logic. For example, Conditionals and Iteratatives. HTML does not contain these, there cannot be a programming language. Anyone who says it is a programming language is just ignorant.
I think HTML is a programming language because it bears - however “loosely” - a resemblance to other languages.
For example, it has a definite structure, (although it’s not always strictly enforced). You have to format your HTML so it works correctly, as in ordered and unordered lists, especially when you “nest” them. Tables are another good example of more or less “rigid” structure, and when you violate that structure, you have glaring errors.
I think it’s also closer to a programing language because it’s the “program” that causes the browser to operate the way it does. If I type two different lines:
This is a headline
This is a paragraph.
The HTML tags tell the browser what to do, and the difference in handling is accomplished by the browser’s “use” of the supplied instructions. You could almost say that HTML is an “operating systeming,” rather than a language, because without it, the browser doesn’t function as it could/should.
*sigh* I realize that most of you use pretty little editors that do all your web pages for you with all the mark-up, so you don’t actually do any of the actual programming on a website. For all of you that say that HTML is about display only…you are obviously forgetting about the input and form functions which has the ability to handle user input. It is also much more flexible than just about any of the “strict” scripting languages, and a whole lot easier to learn. I know that these are small petty things when compared to the abilities of the other languages, but you still have to type out the script. As I remember, if you manually type out a scripted language that will tell a computer a set of instructions…whether for presentation only or for logical functions…you are a programmer. I will give you that if you use the modern editors that write the HTML for you with all the extra worthless code, you are a designer. I draw that distinction.
I think most of you refuse to call it a programming language because of the editors and the ease that people can learn the language. With all the non-geeks making their own web pages, we have to keep our elitism by moving the “programming bar” up above the reach of the ordinary person. You can deny it all you want, but it is an obvious trend. Trust me…I’m just as guilty as the rest of you.
I first learned markup languages, GML and ISIL, in 1984 at IBM. In the introductory, quite a bit of the process was learning the difference between a markup language and a programming language.
I don’t think those things have changed, and certainly HTML is a child of GML.
Html is NOT a programming language. Still, it is about as close as I get to programming these days. I think JAVA might be a programming language; I don’t know it well enough to argue either way. Maybe some of the other scripting languages (PERL, ASP) might be arguable, but my present, poorly informed vote on them would be that they are NOT. (Is ASP a language or a format?)
webopedia.com defines “programming” as “A vocabulary and set of grammatical rules for instructing a computer to perform specific tasks.” And it defines “language” as “A system for communicating.” So, I would say, yes, HTML can loosely be called a “programming” language, albeit a low-level one.
How can (X)HTML not be considered a programming language. I’m not a true programming expert, but I’ve learned and used various languages enough to understand that (X)HTML in its current form does provide for some decision making; especially using CSS. As a language, it seems to be dependent upon its surrounding software environment.
It sounds to me like all those who code HTML by hand feel offended that people are refusing to call HTML a programming language.
I code HTML by hand. I used to code old school BASIC by hand. Let me tell you, there is a difference.
We all know that HTML just tells the browser how to display the elements.
Someone brought up Forms. HTML only displays the form FIELDS (or whatever you call them). You have to have a serverside or clientside script in order to process the form. That serverside or clientside script isn’t done in HTML. HTML just tells the browser what program to run.
So, is HTML a programming language? By definition, no. But, by no means does HTML not being a programming language diminish the fact that you must be skilled to write it.
It doesn’t really matter whether html is a mark-up language or a programming language, these terms are only a question of definition and opinion. What does matter is the intensely rude and intemperate nature of some of your respondents when faced with a perfectly innocuous and interesting philosophical question. Not very bright are they? Regards, Derek
Whether something is a markup language or a programming language is not a matter of opinion–it either is or is not. It’s very simply a matter of fact.
HTML is only a markup language since the MARKUP doesn’t make decisions–it only determines how content is displayed in the browser.
On the other hand… PHP, ASP, CGI, Coldfusion–all of these things are programming language. Even JavaScript can be considered a programming language, though a very basic on at that.
Seems to me that HTML is primarily a markup language, but by the definitions given above, it does do some very basic programming functions (tells the browser to go to another link, for instance, and creates forms etc. Not very high up the programming scale, but it does fit that criteria. And wouldn’t we be blue if we had to involve some more complex series of commands every time we wanted to create a link…….
Actually, HTML Forms tags aren’t just for “displaying” the fields…otherwise, I would never have mentioned the tag. The POST or GET functions give it an ability other than just display. The fact that it tells a serverside/clientside program to perform a function also shows something more than just display. I still stand on the fact that it is a programmable language simply by the fact that you have to type the script out.
As for Derekfv, you made a very lucid observation. Too bad it was without merit and you don’t realize the depth of the conversation you have read into. This thread is between two different ways of thinking when it comes to HTML. I put it into terms you can grasp. It is like people arguing between Coke and Pepsi. To write off a point of view due to your rude view of them being rude and/or intemperate shows your lack of understanding of how passionate some people can get when they discuss a topic that they love. Maybe next time you might have something constructive to add to the conversation.
Regards…Kink
I also see a big difference between markup and programming: one, because you can’t “execute” markup and, two, because markup is something I can do and programming isn’t! I don’t see HTML markup as haveing any real difference from using styles and bookmarks in a Word doc.
Also agree with Derek, above, that this isn’t a issue that warrants a lot of excitement and nastiness. It’s just a little discussion of semantics. Wanna get into a fight over what’s a programming language and what’s a scripting language. What about runtime vs compiled?
Who cares — as long as it gets the job done, it is what it is!
Wow, there were an inordinate number of people getting their panties in a wad over this. Will people die because they called HTML a programming language. Will society end if it’s decided to call it a markup language? Uh, I certainly hope not and truly doubt it. Relax people, in the grand scheme of things, this debate is beyond unimportant. Discuss it, but no reason to resort to name calling and judgemental attitudes. Everything is illusion anyway.
Hyper Text MARKUP language.
NUF SAID
HTML is not a programming language in the same group as the Java, C++, BASIC, Fortran, or any lower level assembler or machine code languages. These all basically control the way numbers and characters are moved to and from the computer’s arithmetic processor and it’s memory, and then in and out of files. Often performing calculations and comparisons. They have control structures for the programmer to organise this. HTML is a markup language in the same way old printers linked to microcomputers provided you with escape sequences to embed in your text to control the printer functions to produce various fonts, new lines, bold, italic etc. An early markup language allowing you to layout text for printing was Runoff on Digital Compter systems (and others).
Let’s leave it at this:
HTML is a language for Web Browsers and NO OTHER PLATFORM.
So, in essence, it IS a programming language, but only when it comes to web browsers. Web Browsers are PROGRAMS not operating systems. Hence, HTML is a faux programming language. It’s like the difference between a toupee and a full head of hair.
How bout THAT?
HTML is what we used to call an application language. It drives a browser to display information. There are many examples in computer history of application languages. SQL, for example, generated many such application languages, each a variation of the other.
The differences between HTML and programming languages are many, but the two most important are the inability to perform logical branches (compare instructions) and lack of computing instructions. I do not include its lack of I/O capabilities, as the first computing languages were also restricted in that area due to the hardware available then.
What I find interesting is the lack of interest in expanding capabilities. Even with JavaScript added there are some almost obvious additions that would truly add to its power and could indeed make it a “programming language.” It could also use a revamping making it simpler, although no one seems to have real interest in this. I will admit, though, in some ways it has come a long way since I first used it some 30 years ago.
HTML is a scripting language. I have worked with both “real” programming languages, such as C++ and VB, and various scripting languages, mostly in-house proprietary stuff for laying out game design, so I have experience with both.
I code HTML “by hand” using a text editor and I still consider HTML a scripting language. By broad definitions, yes, HTML could be considered a programming language, because it does make computers “do things.” So why do I diferrentiate? It’s a job description thing, really. “Real” programmers think anything shorter than 50,000 lines of code is “simple.” I think anything longer than 100 lines is too big. I am a scripter, not a programmer. (And for those prone to taking everything literally, the above is an exaggeration for effect.)
To Alexis:
if you want to use webopedia.com… then consider looking up HTML as well… it’s an “authoring” language.
To Kinkomaster:
Isn’t POST and GET merely a way to determine how to “display” the relevant information in the address bar… until, that is, the browser itself defines the header information, and the scripting language then processes that information?
You can not perform calculations with HTML. You can not create functions …and you cannot define variables to house those functions and calculations
HTML may be considered “data”. The web browser “reads” the data file and displays its output. If you had a file of financial data that displayed a graph from that data, would you consider that data a “programming language” because you could change the way the graph looked by changing the data? That is similar to HTML.
And HTML cannot either be considered a “scripting” language. It has no provisions for variable representation, nor any control structures for logical program flow (ie, you can’t decide to leave out part of a table because the reader doesn’t need it).
Good Lord, Jennifer! What a controversy you’ve stirred up!
If HTML is to be considered a programming language then other markup languages such as Microsoft Word must then also be considered a programming language. (Note that I don’t mean Word macros, I mean the content of a Word document that does not use macros).
A markup language is an entirely different thing from a programming language and only someone who has never written a program could possibly get them confused.
To prove me wrong all that someone needs to do is to set up either an HTML page or a Word document that displays all of the numbers from 1 to 10 that does not have the intervening numbers hard coded in the source but instead generates them.
Hello Im a 16yo computer nerd.(hard coder - notepad-) and do not know everything yet,(trust me, learning programing goes on forever and ever.) however… As I have learned things from many .. many diferent kinds of e-books, including tutorials online that only frustrate you I like knowing things in detail, and understanding them.
My point is every tutorial, every e-book Ive read so far all state, that HTML is a client-side technology. this means that HTML is processed entirely by the client. A web server doesn’t behave differnetly based on the code contained within an HTML document. A web server provides requested files = the client browser makes the decisions about rendering them.
HTML is not a programming language - it does not provide any constructs for data processing of ANY kind.
PHP however is entirely server side..
it doesn’t interact directly with the browser, just the final product of PHP wich usually is an HTML document, it is dealt with by the requesting browser.
Sorry if i babble, but
HTML is an intergral component to web applications development. Things can be embedded and mixed directly into HTML like.. PHP, Javascript and such.
When a client requests an HTML document from a web server, the server responds by directly sending the document to the client.
To Lin Daniel:
so… when you click on the send/receive button on your MS Outlook, to send an email… are you programming?
You’re making your computer “do something”…
Good comment Steve - #41….
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Look… there are a lot of noobs in the world today. Everybody’s gotta start somewhere. It’s what makes the Open Source community so awesoem. HTML is definitely a good place to begin. Even for the most experienced developers, HTML is still something that is constantly changing and growing. Especially with all the deprecated tags and new xHTML standards. Not to mention how cool CSS made the world of development. It is a task and a half to keep up with the new changes.
I guess a better question would be:
Is HTML a development language?
YES.
It is a necessary step in the development process for websites.
It is NOT a programming language. However “cool” it may be… it is not programmable. THE SYNTAX IS SET IN STONE !!!
When you open MS Word, type a word, highlight said word, click on the bold button… it’s the same as using the <strong> tag. The only difference is that you don’t have that button (unless using dreamweaver or some other WYSIWYG). The program is what lies beneath that application that interperates the user interaction. HTML was meant to be an easy interface for communicating with a browser.
…and user interaction is not programming.
Wow! Look at the poll results. 46% of this site’s readers thinks HTML is a programming language.
This simply is a bad place to learn web development.
… And the previous comment’s HTML markup spills to my comments. Really mediocre.
It seems to me after perusing these comments that some are offended that HTML can even be considered a programming language.
I think the passion for this comes out of the fact that someone may consider an HTML coder as a programmer. Often job description writers look at HTML and it doesn’t look any different to them than Java, C, C++ or any other programming language. Hence, under programming language in advertisements you will see included HTML along with Java, Perl, etc.
I understand that some HTML programmers use Dreamweaver and have never clicked in code mode. Not fair you say, maybe not, but as this industry grows and changes I’m afraid that word definitions will not be decided upon by C, C++ programmers, but by people who look at the code and don’t know the difference from one or the other, it’s code so it must require a programmer.
My background goes back to the print industry where the term typeface was used to identify what we now call “fonts”. A Font was how you ordered typefaces.
Like it or not, I think that I will go with the group saying it’s a programming language, though a very simple, but powerful language
Let’s instruct this bold to stop.
If HTML is the ONLY language you know that allows you to build a Web page or a Web site that allows you to be a part of the cyber space community, then I must state that HTML IS INDEED a programming language.
Joe: I’m not sure how the fact that 46% of the readers believe that HTML is a programming language equates to making this site a bad place to learn HTML. As I stated in the actual post - I know that HTML is a markup language. I also know that a lot of people think it’s a programming language.
As for the bold - that was because there was a <strong> tag listed in one of the comments where the commenter didn’t use actual < and > codes to get it to show up. I have fixed it, as you can see.
Doh…. That was bad “programming” on my part
Thanks for the fix!
We can consider HTML as a programming language. As we all know that programming language is a tool used in order to do a particular action with your output.. According to wikipedia, “Programming languages are used to facilitate communication about the task of organizing and manipulating information”,, clearly, HTML contains a series of codes or tags which can be manipulated not only an information but it will result to a good web design,..
Since when, was wikipedia a valid source?
Jason: you’re brave to say that here - somone might hunt you down. The feelings apparently run pretty high on whether HTML is programming or not.
Well, don’t get me wrong… Wikipedia is a cool site, but it’s about as valid as all of the participants here attempting to define HTML. In the end, have we really settled on a definition? It’s more of a collaboration of what we believe to know.
if html is a programming language, english is also. “gee, look, it follows rules, therefore, it MUST be…” pffft. It’s semantics, ultimately. Go read “Words Made Flesh” by Florian Cramer.
It’s silly hat the system doesn’t do auto </[all allowed tags]> at the end of each post. love you, mean it.
I’ll pass on your suggestion (about adding the auto </[all allowed tags]>) to the About developers. However, I don’t think they’ll get to that fix in a while.
Meanwhile, I fixed your comment.
Jennifer
HTML is input for a program, the browser.
HTML does not provide any of the functionality that a programming language does, whether it is C, COBOL, Java or PHP.
An interesting question:
To me HTML is like the stage manager and sets the stage elements. JavaScript or some other “language” provides the action on this stage. With the advent of dynamic HTML and coding methods and procedures like GetElementById those “actors” can manage and change parts of the stage. We are getting close to asking “Which came first? The chicken or the egg?” The answer is of course neither came first. They are both chickens in different forms.
Wow. Who’d have thought this would have been such a debate.
Ok, so we’ve all established that by definition, HTML has been labeled as a markup language. A quote from the W3C:
“HTML 4 [HTML4] is an SGML (Standard Generalized Markup Language) application conforming to International Standard ISO 8879, and is widely regarded as the standard publishing language of the World Wide Web.”
So, the debate over what it *is* really isn’t neccessary. Now, I can see many here consider it to be a programming language. Yah, it really can’t do the logic branching. Personally, I don’t consider it quite the same as a programming language because of that. Programming is a tool to create software. Is an HTML page software?? Um, not really. Now, yah, if you throw in some scripty stuff, put in a form, have something on the server interpreting something, then you could bundle the whole thing up and call it some software. The HTML is sort of like the user API. But the HTML page alone isn’t really software. I kind of like the one persons comment about it being an application language, and how it tells the browser application what to do.
I think its great to draw correlations between HTML and programming languages, and it helps when trying to explain things by saying its “somewhat like” a programming language. But, by definition, what it *is* or *is not* has already been stamped and approved.
Get a grip people… Who the F%ck cares if It’s a programming language or not!
are you all really this anal????
It’s here…It’s got to be used….so use it!…
BOTTOM LINE:
Irrespective of definitions, try to get a job with “HTML Programmer” as your last job title. Your resume will be round filed.
nuff said.
Arguing about this is about as funny as saying Pluto is not a planet anymore because some Dork changes the definition. Grow up!
HTML is a programming language. To anyone who has taken classes for this or anything along the same lines would know that. What we are talking about is Low level vs. High level programming languages. Of course some folks will have personal opinions on it but when it comes to the def of it; Low vs. High or Interpreted vs. Complied.
To Jason Champion:
Ok, Jay…you seem to think that HTML just makes things ‘pretty’, but it isn’t functional. Does it do calculations, no. Does it make decisions, no. Does it communicate and interact with other programs and servers…yes. The GET and POST functions…and yes, I said it, function, works exactly how it is worded. It gets infomation and can post it. Is it the best way to do it? No. It can do it. It also has a little thing called “anchors”…remember those? Those aren’t there to make things look pretty. Those connect pages together and move you around…thus having a FUNCTION, not a use for display…unless you think hyperlinks are pretty.
Just a little note for all of you that think this is a stupid argument and that we all should get a life. If you have this far down the thread to where I am talking to YOU, you are sadder than all of us arguing about this “stupid topic”, because you think it is stupid and a worthless argument…and yet…YOU HAVE READ THRU 64 COMMENTS!! Boshy…Dar, or should I call you comments #61 and 62, how sad do you have to be to go thru all those comments before you realized you were wasting your time. In the brilliant words of Carlos Mencia… “Dee Dee Dee!”
HTML is not a programming language. But! It is often a carrier for programming languages. I mean, JavaScript, PHP, and so many others rely heavily on HTML to get the work done. In that, especially with JavaScript, the line gets blurred. Indeed, nowadays when you create a detailed web page (well, when I do, since I’m a PHP freak), it’s all lumped together; a line of HTML followed by a few lines of JavaScript, then a few lines of PHP, then the occasional line that has all three together! So, HTML may not be a programming language on its own, but when melded with PHP & JS…
I voted yes for HTML being a programming language. But I am not so sure. I read all your arguments and think it is very exciting to discuss this - apart from the fools, that need to insult people and call them stupid. HTML is a way to instruct a browser to show something. Programming is to create a program (e.g. the browser). Do I perform programming, when I format a Word-document? No. Therefore, I do not think HTML is programming. I’m a VB-nerd myself, so I should have known better
Anyway, that was my opinion. Denmark out….
I voted yes. Who else voted before giving it much thought? Did you also think about it being a trick question? Generally, if you ask me if HTML is a programming language I would say yes. We’re programming websites, etc.
Technically speaking, it is not a programming language and I never thought it was.
Kind of a double meaning. Like when talking about attributes and values. First you have to figure out exactly what is meant and being discussed… then you can answer logically.
I am not a programmer. I am a web designer. I am not an artist. I design. Potatoe, potato.
Oh, if HTMl and XHTMl were actual programming languages then they wouldn’t need an interface to communicate through. HTML DOM and XHTML DOM are interface for programming languages. XML, XHTML, HTML are documents (W3Schools) that need to be accessed through their DOM for the data to be manipulated.
As for scripting languages, they are usually described as being like programming languages, working like them. Not actual programming languages. Javascript and PHP are scripting languages. They are described as lightweight programming languages (W3Schools); so arguing that they are programming languages is debatable.
its not a programming language
To say HTML is not a programming language is like saying BASIC is not a programming language because it is interpreted- it is said without valid arguments.
Granted, HTML doesn’t include all the bells and whistles, but it is still a programming language.
Why would anyone still use C++? There are other languages like php, asp or asp.net. these languages are built for the web.
Edward: I can think of two reasons to use C++:
1. if it’s the language you know, and you need to get something up right away, building a CGI in C++ could be faster than learning a new language
2. C++ CGIs are often more secure than the three languages you named. Partially because C++ is compiled and partially because hackers aren’t “gunning” for it like they do for MS products…
WOW lots of time wasted on this subject, Keep it up. I have to get back to work and keep my site at the top of Google and making money not arguing. It’s good for me
A good way to look at programming languages is that a given language should be able to do anything any other language can do - i.e., for a given set of inputs, it can generate the same outputs. Java may be more clever than Cobol, but Cobol is complete enough to accomplish the same tasks. HTML, XML, SGML, SQL and numerous other languages are not quite as capable. Read up on Turing Completeness and especially a language called Brainf*ck for more info.
HTML, short for Hypertext Markup Language, is the predominant markup language for the creation of web pages. It provides a means to describe the structure of text-based information in a document — by denoting certain text as headings, paragraphs, lists, and so on — and to supplement that text with interactive forms, embedded images, and other objects. HTML is written in the form of labels (known as tags), surrounded by less-than (). HTML can also describe, to some degree, the appearance and semantics of a document, and can include embedded scripting language code which can affect the behavior of web browsers and other HTML processors.
HTML is also often used to refer to content of the MIME type text/html or even more broadly as a generic term for HTML whether in its XML-descended form (such as XHTML 1.0 and later) or its form descended directly from SGML (such as HTML 4.01 and earlier).
What is programming?
from: “WordNet (r) 2.0″ (the online dictionary from Princeton University): “3. (computer science) a sequence of instructions that a computer can interpret and execute; “the program required several hundred lines of code”.”
There is an offical definition of “programming” as produced by non-computer programmers. Now the cultural definition of programming is quite different: programming is more like: for loops, do-while loops, while loops, recursion, logic, mathematics, pointers, functions, classes, objects, if-then statements, variables and much more. Those who write C++, C, Fortran, Basic, or Cobol deal with a very complex language that requires extensive skill and practice. It may seem offensive to them for someone who learns HTML, (which does not have the same level of complexity) to consider themselves a “programmer”. But still. . .
the “higher” the level of language the further removed it is from the hardware. HTML is just several more layers removed from the hardware than lower level languages but it is still a set of instructions. Any skilled C++ programmer knows, the computer does not directly execute what they type into the “visual c++ program”. The C++ code must be compiled (made into a binary file) before the computer can do anything with it. Just like the browser must interpret the set of instructions typed in the HTML before anything can be done with it. I seriously doubt that there are lots of jobs for someone to write machine code in any constructive usefull way. For all you “programmers”, if you really want to get down to the “real” programming , try assembly language. . . and you still need an assembler to make it work. Try writing animated GUI content in assembly language. . . have fun. When someone writes HTML they are writing a set of instructions for a browser to interpret in a predetermined way. When someone writes C++ they are writing set_of_instructions for the compiler to interpret in a predetermined way. What’s the difference? It depends on your point of view and your cultural background.
We can say HTML as a language but It is not a programming language
I have written in assembly language (albeit on the Motorola 68k series of processors) and in C/C++, Java/JavaScript, etc, etc, etc… and, of course, in HTML, CSS, XML, etc, etc, etc… I understand that some might get “emotional” when someone calls HTML a programming language. However, this isn’t the reason that HTML is not a programming language. HTML is not a programming language by definition.
If it were a programming language, it would have been called HTPL (Hyper Text Programming Language.) It was not. It was called HTML (Hyper Text Markup Language.)
By taking the term “programming” so loosely as to mean any type of data that some system would need to interpret before “following instructions”… you could also call the .DOC file format to be a programming language because, after all, Microsoft Word needs to interpret the “programming instructions” within the .DOC file to determine what needs to be displayed to the user and how it needs to be displayed. Microsoft Word also happens to be the “compiler” for this “programming language”.
You would be calling RTF a programming language as well. By doing this, you are also removing any meaning for a markup language. If a markup language is also a programming language, then what makes the markup language unique?
Ultimately, the way I see it, is this… in order for a computer-based language to be a programming language, it needs to be able to have IF/THEN/ELSE type of structure to the syntax. It has to have LOOPS. It has to have VARIABLES. Etc…
Just because FORMS can be made in HTML doesn’t mean anything. If the data that is submitted from a form can also be received, manipulated, and processed by the HTML alone, then you’d have a programming language. Unfortunately, since HTML is just a markup language, you need to use a programming language to receive, manipulate and process the data submitted by an HTML form. You can also have text boxes and whatnot inside of a Word Doc, as well. That doesn’t make word processor files a programming language. It’s a file format. If you could easily write in that file format directly, it’d be a markup language. Once you get into the areas of macros and VBA, then you’ve got the programming language.
It really is as simple as that. It isn’t about emotions about who is really a programmer and who is not. It’s simply a matter of language, and maintaining the proper definition of words. Otherwise, we could all start calling bar-codes a programming language, because computers read them in and perform tasks based on what is read in. Just because the computer performs tasks based on input does not mean that input is a programming language. Input is input. If your input can specifically direct the computer to perform conditional logic (that you have explicitly supplied), set and read variables, and enter loops, you’re programming. If, instead, you are just typing up a structured set of code that tells the computer what to display, how to display it, and what interaction options to provide to the viewer, WITHOUT being able to explicitly perform conditional logic, loops, and manage variables, you’ve got a markup language. It doesn’t matter if you used a GUI to write the file, or whether you wrote it yourself in Notepad.
It is a computer language.
You can not write an application with HTML. Maybe a rudimentary app using SSI.
Can you manipulate data? Run loops? Are there control structures? Are there data structures? Can you do anything other than mark up a web page?
No.