Why Study Programming Languages?

1. Programmers must master the programming languages of importance within the domains in which they are working.
2. New languages are continually being developed. Who knows what languages may be involved in computing 25 years from now?
3. Many software applications involve defining and implementing a programming language.
4. A deep knowledge of programming languages expands the range of possible solutions available to a software developer.
5. A program design may involve extending the designated implementation language either explicitly (macros, new/revised translators & custom class loaders) or implicitly (new libraries, hand-translation)
6. Some implementation languages are extensible through macros, reflection, or customizable class loaders.