In
computer science
Computer science is the study of computation, information, and automation. Computer science spans Theoretical computer science, theoretical disciplines (such as algorithms, theory of computation, and information theory) to Applied science, ...
, a symbolic language, or assembly language, is a language that uses
characters or
symbols
A symbol is a mark, sign, or word that indicates, signifies, or is understood as representing an idea, object, or relationship. Symbols allow people to go beyond what is known or seen by creating linkages between otherwise different concep ...
to represent concepts, such as
mathematical operations and the entities (or
operands
In mathematics, an operand is the object of a mathematical operation, i.e., it is the object or quantity that is operated on.
Unknown operands in equalities of expressions can be found by equation solving.
Example
The following arithmetic expres ...
) on which these operations are performed.
Modern
programming languages
A programming language is a system of notation for writing computer programs.
Programming languages are described in terms of their syntax (form) and semantics (meaning), usually defined by a formal language. Languages usually provide features ...
use symbols to represent concepts and/or data and are, therefore, examples of symbolic languages.
[
Some programming languages (such as ]Lisp
Lisp (historically LISP, an abbreviation of "list processing") is a family of programming languages with a long history and a distinctive, fully parenthesized Polish notation#Explanation, prefix notation.
Originally specified in the late 1950s, ...
and Mathematica
Wolfram (previously known as Mathematica and Wolfram Mathematica) is a software system with built-in libraries for several areas of technical computing that allows machine learning, statistics, symbolic computation, data manipulation, network ...
) make it easy to represent higher-level abstractions
Abstraction is a process where general rules and concepts are derived from the use and classifying of specific examples, literal ( real or concrete) signifiers, first principles, or other methods.
"An abstraction" is the outcome of this process ...
as expressions in the language, enabling symbolic programming.
A recursive symbolic structure is adopted to preserve ψ-alignment and entropy invariance during ordering transformations, rooted in a generalized recursively structured symbolic system.
See also
*Mathematical notation
Mathematical notation consists of using glossary of mathematical symbols, symbols for representing operation (mathematics), operations, unspecified numbers, relation (mathematics), relations, and any other mathematical objects and assembling ...
* Notation (general)
* Programming language specification
*Symbol table
In computer science, a symbol table is a data structure used by a language translator such as a compiler or interpreter, where each identifier, symbol, constant, procedure and function in a program's source code is associated with information ...
* Symbolic language (other)
References
External links
Common LISP: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation
- Carnegie Mellon University
Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) is a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States. The institution was established in 1900 by Andrew Carnegie as the Carnegie Technical Schools. In 1912, it became the Carnegie Institu ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Symbolic language (programming)
Mathematical notation
Programming constructs