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Discussion on: What are some misconceptions about web development?

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vyckes profile image
Kevin Pennekamp

HTML & CSS are not programming languages

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adam_cyclones profile image
Adam Crockett 🌀

CSS especially, computations and variables and a limited form of logic.

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somedood profile image
Basti Ortiz

This right here hits the spot.

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gwutama profile image
Galuh Utama • Edited

HTML itself is not turing complete. So it’s technically not a programming language. BUT when you mix CSS AND HTML they can be arguably turing complete.

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wayofthepie profile image
wayofthepie • Edited

I've never understood this argument. Where did the idea a programming language has to be turing complete to be a programming language, come from 😄

A good example is agda. Agda is a total language, its functions always terminate and cannot return a value other than the type specified. This property makes it non-turing complete.

I would still call it a programming language. There are many other examples.

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vyckes profile image
Kevin Pennekamp

Agreed. I mean, even Pokemon Yellow is tiring complete

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ludamillion profile image
Luke Inglis

I think Turing completeness is more important when determining if a language is a ‘general’ programming language as opposed to domain specific languages.

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elmuerte profile image
Michiel Hendriks

They're not, and I don't see why that even matters. C++ isn't a natural language. Assembly isn't a markup language. French isn't a formal language. Cuneiform isn't a spoken language.

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skydevht profile image
Holy-Elie Scaïde

Can't be a programmer if you don't know a programming language.

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elmuerte profile image
Michiel Hendriks

So? Not every websites needs to be programmed. Plenty of people spend quite some effort to program tools which you can use to develop a website, without programming.
And there's a difference between developing the CMS and developing the layout and styling.

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skydevht profile image
Holy-Elie Scaïde

I'm not saying it's bad. Just that people want the title of the programmer as soon as they learn HTML and it rubs them the wrong way when you say that HTML is not a real programming language.

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ludamillion profile image
Luke Inglis

Hence web developer 😉

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darkwiiplayer profile image
𒎏Wii 🏳️‍⚧️ • Edited

What you do with HTML and CSS is not programming, thus they are not programming languages.

Otherwise, as some have pointed out, markdown is also a programming language.