[nomenclature] systems language

[SK]

On Thu, Oct 14, 2010 at 5:30 AM, Justin Johansson <no at spam.com> wrote:
> Touted often around here is the term "systems language".
>
> May we please discuss a definition to be agreed upon
> for the usage this term (at least in this community) and
> also have some agreed upon examples of PLs that might also
> be members of the "set of systems languages".

A fun question without a precise answer -- like the "i know it when I
see it" definition of obscenity.  IMO, a systems language has two key
characteristics:
1) A systems language expresses software that does not overlay
software written in another language.  "Overlay" includes running over
interpreters and/or kernels.
2) A systems language allows machine independent concepts to be
expressed in the language.  This means I can't call my flimsy language
a systems language by falling back on assembly to fill conceptual gaps
that recur on every platform.  It also rules out assembly itself as a
systems language.  When a concept is machine dependent, e.g. "read the
x86 time stamp counter register", then assembly is perfectly
permissible.

Some on this list have opined that D is not aiming at operating system
software, so maybe D is an "aspiring" systems language for the time
being.

Regards,
-steve