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From The Free On-line Dictionary of Computing (27 SEP 03) : [ foldoc ]
toy language
A language useful for instructional purposes or as
a proof-of-concept for some aspect of computer-science theory,
but inadequate for general-purpose programming. Bad Things
can result when a toy language is promoted as a general
purpose solution for programming (see bondage-and-discipline
language); the classic example is Pascal. Several
moderately well-known formalisms for conceptual tasks such as
programming Turing Machines also qualify as toy languages in
a less negative sense.
See also MFTL.
[{Jargon File]
(1995-05-09)
From Jargon File (4.3.1, 29 Jun 2001) : [ jargon ]
toy language n. A language useful for instructional purposes or as a
proof-of-concept for some aspect of computer-science theory, but
inadequate for general-purpose programming. Bad Things can result when
a toy language is promoted as a general purpose solution for programming
(see bondage-and-discipline language); the classic example is
{Pascal" rel="nofollow">{Pascal. Several moderately well-known formalisms for conceptual
tasks such as programming Turing machines also qualify as toy languages
in a less negative sense. See also MFTL.