HTML Is Actually a Programming Language. Fight Me
January 8, 2025
Because HTML looks easy and lacks features like formal conditional logic and Turing-completeness, it’s often dismissed as not a programming language. “That’s not real code; it’s just markup” is a common refrain. Now, I’m no stranger to the austere beauty of the command line, from automating scripts to training machine-learning models. But underestimating HTML is a mistake.
Source: HTML Is Actually a Programming Language. Fight Me | WIRED
Programming language choice as gatekeeping is a long standing ‘tradition’ in computer programming.
Pascal isn’t real programming, C is.
Visual Basic isn’t, real programming
It’s been gong on for decades. And for the most part it is extremely boring.
This has applied ot HTML (and CSS) for a long time too. How long? Well here’s something I wrote 12 years ago now on the topic.
So why even reference it?
Well it’s in Wired, which while not as significant a publication as it once was, is still significant.
And it speaks to something I think we’ve largely lost when it comes to programming–it can be magical and fun.
