Trying to figure out what string.length and print(var) exist in a single language.... Not Java, not C# (I'm pretty sure its .Length, not length), certainly not C, C++ or Python, Pascal, Schme or Haskell or Javascript or PHP.

[–] JackGreenEarth@lemm.ee 88 points 7 months ago (1 children)

OCR exam language, a pseudocode format.

[–] kn0wmad1c@programming.dev 10 points 7 months ago (2 children)

This could run in Javascript if you setup print as an alias for window.alert or console.log

[–] PoolloverNathan@programming.dev 4 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It can run in regular JS; print() just prints the page (ignoring the passed value).

[–] lemann@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 7 months ago

undefined

[–] xigoi@lemmy.sdf.org 1 points 7 months ago

The QuickJS interpreter has print as a built-in alias for console.log.

[–] Minotaur@lemm.ee 47 points 7 months ago (3 children)

I’m very much guessing that this is just supposed to be a type of pseudocode given the context and vagueness of it.

It’s a big reason why I really dont like pseudocode as instruction to people learning the basics of what programming is. It made more sense 20 years ago when programming languages were on a whole a lot more esoteric and less plain text, but now with simple languages like Python there’s simply little reason to not just write Python code or whatever.

I took an intro to programming class in College and the single thing I got dinged on the most is “incorrect pseudocode”, which was either too formal and close to real code or too casual and close to plain English.

It’s not a great system. We really need to get rid of it as a practice

[–] nxdefiant@startrek.website 22 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Especially since python is right there.

[–] 1rre@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 7 months ago (5 children)

I mean once you get beyond bash-like scripts python is esoteric as fuck, adding oop to what is essentially a shell is a terrible idea

That said, there's plenty of languages with good syntax that is still good when you get into more complex stuff (modern C#, scala, kotlin and more)

[–] Minotaur@lemm.ee 11 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I think you’re missing the forest for the trees here pretty heavily.

Yes, Python has some goofy aspects about managing it while performing high level, in depth tasks.

This is a post and a comment chain about pseudocode being taught to people who likely just learned what a “programming language” was several weeks ago. Essentially no one taking the GCSE knows what “bash-like scripts” even means.

[–] nxdefiant@startrek.website 11 points 7 months ago

The only thing esoteric about python is the bolted-on typing and anything behind a double underscore.

So yeah, it's there, but in front of the curtain it's practically pseudo code.

[–] tryptaminev@feddit.de 8 points 7 months ago (1 children)

I disagree. Python is not "esoteric" when making objects. The syntax is certainly easier than in Java.

[–] 1rre@discuss.tchncs.de -1 points 7 months ago (1 children)

The syntax is certainly easier than Java

And VisualBasic's syntax is easier than COBOL, but this isn't a competition to make the least offensive heap of putrid garbage, so why does it matter?

Python works just fine for basic scripts, frankly it's amazing for it, but oop and functional programming is so incredibly obviously badly shoehorned in that huge swathes needs scrapping and version 4 releasing

[–] tryptaminev@feddit.de 5 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Then help me understand please. What do you mean by "esoteric" in regards to oop in Python compared to a language better suited for it?

[–] jjjalljs@ttrpg.network 4 points 7 months ago

What part(s) of python do you think is esoteric?

[–] GBU_28@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago

Wut

[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 5 points 7 months ago

Reminds me of 7th grade math class, chapter on estimating. Assignment was "Estimate the following values" with problems like 42+28=? or 14*3=?

One of them was 6*7=? Which having memorized my times tables in 4th grade like they told me to, I knew off the top of my head that it's 42. I wrote that. And it was marked wrong because I was too precise.

[–] psud@aussie.zone 1 points 7 months ago

In the 90s my high school used Pascal. That seems reasonable if you only want to teach procedural

[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 28 points 7 months ago

Just pseudocode.

[–] skulbuny@sh.itjust.works 16 points 7 months ago (1 children)

JavaScript has [string].length

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago (3 children)

doesnt have print nor allow variable declaration without keywords

[–] joyjoy@lemm.ee 25 points 7 months ago (1 children)

print() will print the text to a physical printer with paper and everything. Don't confuse it with console.log and use it in a loop.

[–] tourist@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

it's so rough learning this by accident

[–] Downcount@lemmy.world 12 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

It would have print if it was previously declared as function.

Also, js is as dirty as you want it to be. Keywords are indeed not necessary for declaring variables.

[–] kautau@lemmy.world 9 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

JavaScript is the language of the assassins, with its infinitely modifiable prototypical setup

Nothing is true

true !== 1

true

true + true + true === 3

true

Everything is permitted

[]+[]

''

[–] bleistift2@feddit.de 5 points 7 months ago

Sure you can write foo = 3 in JavaScript. It’s a global variable and can be referenced as either foo or window.foo.

[–] lugal@lemmy.ml 10 points 7 months ago (1 children)

This is quite a cheap answer but maybe it's just pseudo code. We had exercises in university about pseudo code with examples that intentionally broke all syntax systems and conventions to show that not everything has to be executable that you write down in a theoretical computer science homework

[–] nxdefiant@startrek.website -3 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's a shitty question. It's implied by the fact that "24" is wrong that the answer is "6", the length of the string "Monday".

In some languages dot access on objects could give you the properties of the object type (things pertaining to a "day" object) but this would still be ambiguous since a day's length can be measured in many different ways.

In others, it would require you to call length as a function (.length()) or not be available at all, or require you to pass the object into another function [ length_in_seconds(day_x)]

[–] Matty_r@programming.dev 11 points 7 months ago

I think the question is fine, but we have to assume they covered this type of method prior to the exam, where .length would result in the character count of a String.

[–] NeatNit@discuss.tchncs.de 10 points 7 months ago

My headcanon: it's a language that gets executed by a LLM. Whatever you write, if the LLM can make sense of it, it will execute it.

The output may well be "24 hours".

[–] mox@lemmy.sdf.org 10 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (2 children)

That recurring puzzle is among the most interesting aspects of this community, IMHO.

[–] kautau@lemmy.world 8 points 7 months ago

It’s weird that people are so focused on it. It’s pseudocode, and it’s purely meant for day one comp sci students to grasp how data is stored and processed, before they are forced into writing Java, most likely

[–] Skullgrid@lemmy.world 5 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Most irritating aspect of switching languages. How are switches done in this one again?

•Searches web•

Ah yes

[–] min_fapper@iusearchlinux.fyi 4 points 7 months ago

To be honest, that was the biggest value proposition of GitHub Copilot.

[–] paholg@lemm.ee 7 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

It could be Ruby; puts is more common, but there is a print. With some silly context, the answer could even be correct:

#!/usr/bin/env ruby

module DayLength
  def length
    if ["Sunday", "Monday", "Tuesday", "Wednesday", "Thursday", "Friday", "Saturday"].include? self
      "24 hours"
    else
      super
    end
  end
end

class String
  prepend DayLength
end

day = "Monday"

x = day.length

print(x)

[–] dog@suppo.fi 4 points 7 months ago

Pseudocode and/or a variant of lua.

[–] magic_lobster_party@kbin.run 4 points 7 months ago

Scala and Kotlin are close ones, although those requires variables to be declared with var day = “Monday” (unless the variables are declared elsewhere)

[–] XEAL@lemm.ee 2 points 7 months ago (1 children)

Why not Python? Because it needs print(str(x))?

[–] dragontamer@lemmy.world 6 points 7 months ago (1 children)

It's len(str) in Python. Not str.length.

[–] XEAL@lemm.ee 1 points 7 months ago

Ohhh thanks

[–] breadsmasher@lemmy.world 2 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

Same thoughts I had.

Language which allows variable declaration as name = value without any keywords or its a variable declared outside of the example
Has lowercase .length and not .len or other
.length is also a property and not a method? Assuming convention .length() for method call like print(x)