The Open Information Systems Journal

2008, 2 : 11-16
Published online 2008 April 1. DOI: 10.2174/1874133900802010011
Publisher ID: TOISJ-2-11

Tag Libraries as Fifth Generation Languages

Mark Cyzyk
Scholarly Communication Architect, Library Digital Programs Group, The Sheridan Libraries, Milton S. Eisenhower Library, Johns Hopkins University, 3400 North Charles Street, Baltimore, MD 21218, USA.

ABSTRACT

This essay weighs the notion that Web-based tag libraries represent the fifth generation of computer languages. A brief survey of the history of computer languages is provided as is an indication of why it is useful to conventionally categorize computer languages into “generations”. The essay argues that the current conventional ascription of generations is incorrect and that it should be replaced with one based on what the author terms “the principle of abstraction”.

Keywords:

Web-based tag libraries, generations of computer languages, scripting languages, history of computer languages, fifth generation languages.