Adding support for if, while, and do while, to a simple compiler and virtual machine written in Php | Linux Today

Adding support for if, while, and do while, to a simple compiler and virtual machine written in Php

Written By
Web Webster
Web Webster
Jan 9, 2012

[ Thanks to Erik for
this link. ]

“In order to obtain a turing-complete programming language, that
is, a language in which we can implement and execute any arbitrary
algorithm, that is, that other turing-complete machines can execute
too, we now need to add a way of (conditionally) branching, that
is, the IF statement, and at least one way of repeating statements,
that is the WHILE or the DO WHILE statements.

“If you carefully look at real CPU machine code, besides storing
and retrieving values in memory, looping and branching is pretty
much all that a contemporary Von Neumann CPU can do. Therefore, a
programming language is turing-complete, if it can do the
same.”


Complete Story

Web Webster

Web Webster

Web Webster has more than 20 years of writing and editorial experience in the tech sector. He’s written and edited news, demand generation, user-focused, and thought leadership content for business software solutions, consumer tech, and Linux Today, he edits and writes for a portfolio of tech industry news and analysis websites including webopedia.com, and DatabaseJournal.com.

Linux Today Logo

LinuxToday is a trusted, contributor-driven news resource supporting all types of Linux users. Our thriving international community engages with us through social media and frequent content contributions aimed at solving problems ranging from personal computing to enterprise-level IT operations. LinuxToday serves as a home for a community that struggles to find comparable information elsewhere on the web.

Property of TechnologyAdvice. © 2026 TechnologyAdvice. All Rights Reserved

Advertiser Disclosure: Some of the products that appear on this site are from companies from which TechnologyAdvice receives compensation. This compensation may impact how and where products appear on this site including, for example, the order in which they appear. TechnologyAdvice does not include all companies or all types of products available in the marketplace.