Bell-curve meme debating whether HTML counts as a programming language

Description

The image uses the bell-curve IQ meme format: a light-blue Gaussian curve spans the center with percentile markers (0.1 %, 2 %, 14 %, 34 %, 34 %, 14 %, 2 %) and IQ scores from 70 to 145 along the x-axis. On the far left tail, a simple smiling Wojak head says, “HTML is a programming language.” At the peak, a mid-IQ Wojak with frantic hair yells, “HTML isn’t a programming language. It’s a markup language!! It’s not turing-complete!! You are not a real programmer!!” On the far right tail, a hooded “enlightened” Wojak delivers a lengthy block of text: “HTML is a programming language because it is declarative instructions meant to be executed by a computer. Turing-completeness does not determine whether a language is a programming one or not. Does that mean that data formatting standards, such as XML, LaTeX, Roff etc. are really programming languages? Yes, because ultimately a programming language is an artificial abstract categorization we setup to refer to different rules and data. CSS, Conway’s game of life, REAL life and digital electronics are all turing complete but we wouldn’t call them programming languages. Why? Because it’s semantics. Either way, most people who laugh at "HTML isn’t a programming language memes" are brainlets.” The meme humorously captures the perennial developer argument about Turing completeness, language categorization, and web standards semantics - topics familiar to front-end engineers and language theorists alike

Common Tags

Html LanguageWars LanguageComparison Frontend WebStandards TechHumor DeveloperCulture

Comments

Anonymous ★ Top Pick Mock HTML all you want; its big brothers ANSI SQL and regex are Turing-complete, write-only, and one `WITH RECURSIVE (.*)` away from turning prod into NULL

Anonymous ★ Top Pick

Mock HTML all you want; its big brothers ANSI SQL and regex are Turing-complete, write-only, and one `WITH RECURSIVE (.*)` away from turning prod into NULL
Anonymous

The real bell curve is realizing that after 20 years in the industry, you've gone from arguing about HTML's status, to not caring, to finally understanding that the only truly Turing-complete language is the one where you convince management that the bug is actually a feature requiring a change request
Anonymous

The real Turing-complete test isn't whether HTML can theoretically compute anything - it's whether you can convince your team to stop arguing about it in code review long enough to ship the feature. Bonus points if someone brings up CSS3 animations being accidentally Turing-complete via the Rule 110 cellular automaton, at which point the architect quietly closes Slack and questions their career choices
Anonymous

HTML gatekeeping: peak bell curve density where purists cluster, but fat tails reveal Turing-complete div nests that outlive us all
Anonymous

Turing completeness never shipped a feature; unclosed tags routinely ship Sev-1s
Anonymous

We stopped debating whether HTML is a programming language the night a missing </div> caused a Sev1 - it's incident-complete, which is the only completeness that matters
@alexyemets 5y

lol
@v1lezor 5y

я слева
1. @VladislavSmolyanoy 5y
  
  +
@i_am_no_tree 5y

Ok, if xml is a programming language, than SVG pics are real apps 🙂
1. Deleted Account 5y
  
  Well, css is a programming language
  
  @nb30ac 5y
  
  This is "settings" file for html :D
  
  Deleted Account 5y
  
  But it can make connect 4
@wormik48 5y

txt is a programming language
Deleted Account 5y

If you can make a working connect 4 in it, it's certainly a programming language
@saidov 5y

css is not Turing-complete LOL
@saidov 5y

by programming language I understand the ability to branch, looping and allocating the certain size of memory.
1. @teleus3r 5y
  
  Who cares what your understanding of a programming language is?
  
  @saidov 5y
  
  your passive aggressive attitude doesn't contribute to the discussion. The whole fuss around this meme stems from the confusion about the definition of a programming language
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  nice comeback, but please don't take this too seriously.
  
  @teleus3r 5y
  
  This meme meta is above your personal understanding of what a programming language is unless you simply wanted to make a point that you are a zoomer character in the middle paraphrasing what he said anyway. I thought this was all about memes and having fun rather than making comments that don’t add anything to the “discussion”. Anyway, I apologise if my comment upset you.
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  And you: don't dismiss other people's opinions just because you disagree with it. We don't need more negativity than there already is. If you want to have a civil discussion about what counts as a programming language though, I'm absolutely in favour of that.
  
  @teleus3r 5y
  
  Sure, I’ve had no idea that everyone is so serious here. I find it more educating to read a wiki article about the concept of a programming language than having a “discussion” here. I can only recommend people to check wiki and educate themselves before adding entropy to the internet universe 🤓
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  it's not really a serious chat, but dismissing someone's viewpoint is rude and not apprechiated
  
  @teleus3r 5y
  
  Ok, fair enough. I’ll try to be more sensitive in the future 😇
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  👍
  
  @UQuark 5y
  
  Lol admin sincerely desires to turn this public into a kindergarten "No negativity, be kind, eat rainbow, poop with butterflies"
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  there's a difference between criticism and hateful comments. I don't want to see the latter here.
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  also I'm not the admin, I'm just a moderator
@RiedleroD 5y

wait, CSS is turing-complete?
1. @busy_hedgehog 5y
  
  I saw calculator on css, so I think it could be turing complete
@chekoopa 5y

Natural language is also a programming language. Very-very high level one.
@UQuark 5y

Kindergarten
1. @RiedleroD 5y
  
  Fine, if you think not insulting people is only done in kindergartens, then so be it.
@FunnyGuyU 5y

Is CSS really Turing complete?
1. @busy_hedgehog 5y
  
  Yeah, really interesting questions
@busy_hedgehog 5y

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/2497146/is-css-turing-complete
@sashakity 5y

this broadens the definition of a programming language far too much. it encompasses any method of structured data storage. NBT files, YAML, JSON, and any configuration file syntax are now programming languages
1. @RiedleroD 5y
  
  YAML is turing-complete afaik
  
  @mvolfik 5y
  
  yaml certainly could be, because it supports weird stuff like references and arbitrary objects (haha, try running a python yaml parser in unsafe, fully compliant mode)
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  and that's why json is superior. Also because it doesn't parse NO to False
  
  @mvolfik 5y
  
  oh bruh does yaml do that
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  aye
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  yaml is the js of storage file formats
  
  @mvolfik 5y
  
  lmao i never though about it like that but prob yes I like some subset of yaml though. but it's this edge cases that kill it
  
  @p4vook 5y
  
  no
@RiedleroD 5y

nice stickerpack
1. @sashakity 5y
  
  it isn't mine
  
  @RiedleroD 5y
  
  I can see that, aye. Still nice tho.
  
  @sashakity 5y
  
  yes
@oleg_a_wto 5y

The last one is just a dummie who think he's so smart for making up a different definition and thinking it's correct. Good luck "programming" in Paint, because an image file is an instruction for a computer as it specifies which particular color should be displayed on each pixel. He can also use a digital microphone to "program" the way his speakers work.
@slnt_opp 5y

Basically language is any system of limited generative rules making infinite amount of senses....
@affirvega 5y

I hate this meme so much

Use J and K for navigation

Bell-curve meme debating whether HTML counts as a programming language

Description

Categories

Common Tags

Comments

More like this

Rust vs HTML5 Memory Safety Comparison Table

The 'Chuck Norris' Red: A Deep Dive into HTML's Quirky Color Parsing

GitHub Copilot's pedantic refusal to acknowledge templating as programming