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Author: csswizardry

_posts/2025-02-10-html-is-not-a-programming-language.md

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+---
+layout: post
+title: "HTML Is Not a Programming Language…"
+date: 2025-02-11 18:09:04
+categories: Web Development
+meta: "Is HTML a programming language? In this short post, I explore why HTML is powerful, fundamental, and essential—but not a programming language. Discover why semantics matter less than practical value and why HTML deserves more respect."
+toc: false
+---
+
+I adore HTML. I actually, really do. It’s the [performance
+engineer](/consultancy/)’s dream. But I don’t think it’s a programming language.
+At least not in any useful sense.
+
+There’s a saying, [with a pretty amusing
+backstory](https://www.the42.ie/brian-odriscoll-tomato-fruit-salad-quote-2051370-Apr2015/),
+that goes something like <q>knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is
+not putting it in a fruit salad</q>. That sums up my take on the debate
+perfectly. Being ‘technically correct’, while important to many, is usually
+pedantic, unproductive, and not very helpful.
+
+The definition of _programming language_ is not formally agreed upon, but if
+you’re keen enough to bend it to fit HTML, you will probably be successful.
+
+But what does that achieve? Really?
+
+HTML is fundamental, it’s powerful, and it’s _fast_, **but it is easy**. Being
+good at HTML—which I would argue I am!—is more about having [a good
+memory](https://developer.mozilla.org/en-US/docs/Web/HTML/Element) than being
+able to think in complex or abstract patterns.
+
+I adore HTML. I much prefer it over anything else! But I wouldn’t call it
+a programming language.
+
+If I was at a dinner party or social function, and my (nascent) partner got
+talking to someone who writes code that launches rockets or manages banking
+software—a real software engineer—and she said to them <q>Oh! You must meet
+Harry! He’s a software engineer, too!</q>, I would be mortified. I couldn’t
+[hold
+a candle](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/can-t-hold-a-candle-to)
+to that. I wouldn’t want to!
+
+I adore HTML. But it isn’t a programming language.
+
+I wish more people took HTML more seriously. I wish more people were good at
+HTML and understood its power and capabilities. I wish more people knew why HTML
+is so fast and why it’s almost always preferred. It’s knowledge that’s made me
+[a good living](/services/)!
+
+I adore HTML, but I don’t think it counts as a programming language at all. And
+that’s fine—it doesn’t need to.
+
+If you think differently to me, if you can make the definition of _programming
+language_ fit, that’s absolutely fine. But, colloquially, I don’t think it’s
+helpful at all.
+
+I adore HTML ❤️