Questions tagged [on-topic]
Questions about whether a question or a range of similar questions are on-topic.
37 questions
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A community-specific close reason for unfocused language design questions
We currently do not have any community-specific close reasons. Broadly speaking, I don’t think this is necessarily a problem—community-specific close reasons should be created intentionally and ...
Alexis KingMod
- 10.4k
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Are “what are some possible syntaxes” questions on-topic?
Suppose I were to ask the following question:
I am designing an object-oriented language with classes, and I’m trying to decide what syntax to use to define a class’s constructor. Even among popular ...
Alexis KingMod
- 10.4k
4
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2
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Which "Which languages have XYZ?" questions are on-topic?
I'm thinking of questions like "What languages have XYZ?", "Do any languages have XYZ?", or so on. Let's call them "list-of-languages" questions, because the answer is ...
- 20.8k
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Are questions about debugging incorrect codegen on-topic?
X86-64 Assembly for Recursive Functions was just asked, and it is essentially a debugging help question. Our help center currently says that
Advice or support with specific coding problems or ...
Alexis KingMod
- 10.4k
20
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4
answers
551
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Moving towards more focused language design questions
As of today, the [pros-cons] tag has officially been burninated, but we haven’t yet made any decisions about whether pros/cons questions are actually on topic. This has been discussed to some extent ...
Alexis KingMod
- 10.4k
11
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3
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90
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What should we explicitly call out as on- and off-topic in our Help Center?
Until about ten minutes ago, the What topics can I ask about here? page in our Help Center was just a generic template. However, now that we have moderators, we are free to decide as a community what ...
Alexis KingMod
- 10.4k
4
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5
answers
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Should frivolous questions about esolangs be on topic?
Looking at Could a programming language work where variables are only differentiated by fonts?
It seems somewhat frivolous and likely to invites a family of similarly frivolous questions like "...
- 2,874
5
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What makes a question about a programming language’s standard library on-topic?
The consensus on Are library design questions on-topic? appears to be that library design questions can be on-topic, and in general I agree with that. Some aspects of programming language standard ...
Alexis KingMod
- 10.4k
3
votes
1
answer
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What kinds of questions about software development tools are on topic?
This question regards general software development tools and libraries, not just tools such as ANTLR that are specifically meant for designing/implementing programming languages. What criteria must ...
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1
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Would language extensions/spin-offs be ontopic?
Might be too close to this question, but would questions relating to expanding or basing oneself on existing languages be on-topic on this site?
Take for example the recent explosion of C++ successors ...
- 1,668
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Are questions about ways to create libraries for a language on-topic?
I would like to ask a question about possible ways to go about creating a library for a programming language.
What are some ways to create a library for a programming language?
Would such a question ...
- 1,086
3
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1
answer
59
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Are questions about syntax highlighting on-topic?
Basically what the title says. Are questions about how to implement syntax highlighting and semantic highlighting on-topic under "programming language implementation"?
- 9,407
1
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1
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Can I ask this question?
I want to ask a question about the pros and cons of allowing users to define functions with the same name as built-in functions. For example, defining:
...
- 1,086
6
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2
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Should questions purely about type theory be on-topic here?
This question asks why union and intersection types are the "opposite" of the mathematical union and intersection operations when considering the types' sets of properties.
Such questions ...
- 20.8k
3
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3
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Are specific programming questions pertaining to implementing a compiler/interpreter on-topic?
Suppose someone is trying to implement a compiler or interpreter. They are encountering a programming error and need debugging help. Would such questions be on-topic here, or are those more suited for ...
- 9,143
4
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1
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Is a question about 'how to compare languages for this purpose' on topic?
Are questions which ask for ways or methods on how to compare the design or elements of two languages on-topic? For example, a person might ask:
What are some ways to compare programming languages in ...
- 1,086
2
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0
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Are questions "What caveats are there when implementing X in a programming language?" on-topic?
I asked one such question and it got downvoted.
- 1,388
5
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Are questions asking for help in a formal grammar on topic?
I was thinking of asking a question in which I show a portion of my language's formal grammar to ask for help in how to structure a portion of it in order to reduce ambiguity. Are questions like this ...
- 1,623
5
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Is "Why Python's designer got rid of curly braces and Julia's designers brought them back? Could Julia work just as well without them?" too beginner?
During the process of joining the site I saw:
New site doesn’t necessarily mean “beginner” questions
So I'd like to vet my question here first - is this too much of a beginner question?
One of the ...
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1
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Is there a complete guide to which questions you can ask here?
I'm having difficulty asking questions, either because the questions I want to ask have already been taken, or I'm confused on what I can and can't ask.
Is there a list of what types of questions are ...
- 1,086
2
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1
answer
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Are posts asking questions about the content of specific PLDI books on topic?
As we know, there are many books that explain how to write a compiler/interpreter in depth that are usually geared towards beginners. Though they usually have sufficient explanation surrounding each ...
- 1,623
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2
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Are questions about implementation of optimizers and backends acceptable?
Many of the so far asked questions focus on language design. However the title of the site is 'Programming Language Design and Implementation'. There are questions on compiler implementation, but they ...
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3
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Should we allow questions asking to find or recommend off-site resources?
Stack Overflow has such a policy (link):
Questions asking us to recommend or find a book, tool, software library, tutorial or other off-site resource are off-topic for Stack Overflow as they tend to ...
- 20.8k
9
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What do we think of "soft / meta" questions?
I've been asking questions about programming language design at a higher level than the more technical kinds of questions I suppose many people are expecting to see here.
For example, so far, I've ...
- 1,652
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Can I ask a question comparing two related/similar programming languages?
I want to ask a question about the differences between C and C++, but I'm worried it might not be on-topic. Are questions such as "what are the differences between language x and language y" ...
- 1,086
1
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0
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Is it on-topic to ask about techniques for empirically evaluating a language's success at achieving a specific, commonly-sought design goal?
Such goals may include (but are not limited to): readability, usability, performance, maintainability, etc.
Are there cases when such questions should be considered off-topic? (aside from the reasons ...
- 1,652
6
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2
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Our help center has nothing saying what's on topic
The on-topic page in our Help Center currently looks like this:
If your question is not specifically on-topic for Programming Language Design and Implementation Stack Exchange, [...]
It never says ...
- 1,356
12
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2
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Are questions about the design of ISA instruction-set encodings on-topic?
Let's say I'm interested in designing an instruction set architecture, and I want to know something about a specific design or implementation consideration related to instruction sets and their ...
- 1,652
2
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2
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73
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Are questions about developing a language specification on-topic?
I am considering asking a question along the lines of 'How could I best describe a void or never type in a formal language ...
- 9,143
6
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2
answers
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Are questions about specific languages on-topic?
Would a question about a specific feature of specific programming languages be on-topic or would the scope be too specific? For example, asking about the implementation of a specific feature of, say, ...
- 1,086
4
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3
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Are questions about community building on topic?
I thought this question had already come up in Area51 but I cannot see it here so I am duplicating it.
Are questions about how to build and manage a programming language community on-topic here or ...
- 2,874
7
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2
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134
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Are questions about naming a programming language on-topic?
I am sure that asking a question such as 'What should I name my programming language?' is going to be too broad and opinion-based. But if someone had a more specific question about naming a ...
- 9,143
7
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3
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When should a golfing language question be posted here vs. on CGCC?
There are currently two sites where questions about golfing languages (languages designed to be as compact as possible) are definitively on-topic:
This site
Code Golf & Coding Challenges
What ...
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Are library design questions on-topic?
Especially standard library design, which is fairly related to the language itself, yet not directed related to 'language design'.
- 2,694
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Can I ask for review of a design proposal?
I recently published a formal proposal and request for feedback for what is probably the most significant extension to APL's syntax ever.
Would it be on-topic to ask for feedback on the proposal?
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What is a programming language for the purposes of this site to qualify as on topic?
Asking this here as it was suggested here. As the highest voted answer said, this is better question for PLDI's meta. So here we are.
- 1,356
8
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2
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Should 'Why doesn't <x> language have <y>?' be considered on-topic?
It may be tempting to ask questions about why your favorite languages is missing a specific useful feature. I have seen (and posted) such questions on Software Engineering. Their reception is mixed. I ...
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