toy language: n. A language useful for instructional purposes
or as a proof-of-concept for some aspect of computer-science theory,
but inadequate for general-purpose programming. Bad Things can
result when a toy language is promoted as a general purpose solution
for programming (see bondage-and-discipline language); the classic
example is Pascal. Several moderately well-known formalisms for
conceptual tasks such as programming Turing machines also qualify
as toy languages in a less negative sense. See also MFTL.
![[prev]](../gif/left.gif){kind=small}
![[up]](../gif/up.gif){kind=small}
![[next]](../gif/right.gif){kind=small}