... computer programs. All
programming languages are formal languages.
natural language: Any of the languages people speak that have evolved nat-
urally.
portability: A property of a program that can run ... sentence.
Although formal and natural languages have many features in common—tokens,
structure, syntax and semantics—there are many differences.
ambiguity: Natural languages are full of ambiguity, ... are declarations, assignments, and print state-
ments.
declaration: A statement that creates a new variable and determines its type.
assignment: A statement that assigns a value to a variable.
expression:...
... 1. 4. Formal and natural languages 5
1. 4 Formal and natural languages
Natural languages are the languages people speak, such as English, Spanish, and French.
They were not ... sentence.
Although formal and natural languages have many features in common—tokens, struc-
ture, syntax, and semantics—there are some differences:
ambiguity: Natural languages are full of ambiguity, which ... details matter. Small er-
rors in spelling and punctuation, which you can get away with in natural languages, can
make a big difference in a formal language.
1. 5 The first program
Traditionally,...
... pro-
grams; all programming languages are formal languages.
token: One of the basic elements of the syntactic structure of a program, analo-
gous to a word in a natural language.
parse: To examine a ... represents a command or action. So far, the
statements you have seen are assignments and print statements.
assignment: A statement that assigns a value to a variable.
1
For now. T he behavior of ... Another name for a runtime error.
semantic error: An error in a program that makes it do something other than
what the programmer intended.
semantics: The meaning of a program.
natural language: Any...
... evolved naturally.
Formal languages are languages that are designed by people for specific
applications. For example, the notation that mathematicians use is a formal
language that is particularly ... pur-
poses, like representing mathematical ideas or computer programs. All
programming languages are formal languages.
natural language: Any of the languages people speak that have evolved nat-
urally.
interpret: ... easier to read the program and locate syntax
errors.
2.2 Values
A value is one of the fundamental things likea letter or a number—that a
program manipulates. The only values we have manipulated...
... directors, both as a mat-
ter of common sense and as a matter of policy. Boards have a com-
parative informational advantage and greater motivation to police
managerial opportunism than managers do. ... “forces adaptability and teaches constant preparedness.”
Pragmatism
Practical intelligence also “acknowledges that nothing quite suc-
ceeds as planned” and that what is crucial is “pragmatic adaptability”
to ... excellence measured in terms of cus-
tomer satisfaction, acceptance of change as a constant force, candid
communication in all directions, and acceptance of the paradox of
managing such an organization,...