TITLE: Aramaic, the Intermediate Language of the Ancient World
AUTHOR: Eugene Wallingford
DATE: October 22, 2015  4:22 PM
DESC: 
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BODY:
My compiler course is making the transition from the front
end to the back end.  Our attention is on static analysis of
abstract syntax trees and will soon turn to other intermediate
representations.

In the compiler world, an "intermediate representation" or
<A HREF="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intermediate_language">
   intermediate language</A>
is a notation used as a stepping stone between the abstract
syntax tree and the machine language that is ultimately
produced.  Such
<A HREF="http://www.cs.uni.edu/~wallingf/blog/archives/monthly/2012-04.html#e2012-04-03T16_00_08.htm">
   a stepping stone</A>
allows the compiler to take smaller steps in translation
process and makes it easier to improve the code before getting
down into the details of machine language.

We sometimes see intermediate languages in the "real world", too.
They tend to arise as a result of cultural and geopolitical
forces and, while they usually serve different purposes in human
affairs than in compiler affairs, they still tend to be practical
stepping stones to another language.

Consider the case of
<A HREF="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Darius_I">
    Darius I</A>,
whose Persian armies conquered most of the Middle East around
500 BC.  As John McWhorter writes
<A HREF="http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2015/09/aramaic-middle-east-language/404434/">
   in The Atlantic</A>,
at the time of Darius's conquest,

<BLOCKQUOTE><EM>
 ... Aramaic was so well-entrenched that it seemed natural to
 maintain it as the new empire's official language, instead of
 using Persian.  For King Darius, Persian was for coins and
 magnificent rock-face inscriptions.  Day-to-day administration
 was in Aramaic, which he likely didn't even know himself.  He
 would dictate a letter in Persian and a scribe would translate
 it into Aramaic.  Then, upon delivery, another scribe would
 translate the letter from Aramaic into the local language.
 This was standard practice for correspondence in all the
 languages of the empire.
</EM></BLOCKQUOTE>

For sixty years, many compiler writers have dreamed of
<A HREF="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UNCOL">
   a universal intermediate language</A>
that would ease the creation of compilers for new languages and
new machines, to no avail.  But for several hundred years,
Aramaic was the intermediate representation of choice for a big
part of the Western world!  Alas, Greek and Arabic later came
along to supplant Aramaic, which now seems to be on a path to
extinction.

This all sounds a lot like the world of programming, in which
languages come and go as we develop new technologies.  Sometimes
a language, human or computer, takes root for a while as the
result of historical or technical forces.  Then a new regime or
a new culture rises, or an existing culture gains in influence,
and a different language comes to dominate.

McWhorter suggests that English may have risen to prominence at
just the right moment in history to entrench itself as the world's
intermediate language for a good long run.  We'll see.  Human
languages and computer languages may operate on different
timescales, but history treats them much the same.
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