Re: Definition of Semantic: was What Lua can do that other programming languages can't do?

[Doug Currie <doug.currie@...>]

On Mar 25, 2013, at 8:56 PM, Tim Hill <drtimhill@gmail.com> wrote:

> from a computers standpoint, semantic bugs cannot exist

There are programming languages that take great pains, e.g., using static analysis, to detect semantic bugs at compile time.

This Lua function will pass through the compiler just fine:

function f1 (x) return x + math.sqrt("elephant") end

but in a language with static analysis (or just strong static type checking) the compiler can declare it "meaningless," and thereby detect a "semantic bug."

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