What are the "meta principles" for all programming languages?

Maybe look at the table of contents of a PL textbook like "Concepts of Programming Languages" by Robert Sebesta. Taking the TOC from the Pearson page:

Chapter 1 Preliminaries1.1 Reasons for Studying Concepts of Programming Languages 1.2 Programming Domains 1.3 Language Evaluation Criteria 1.4 Influences on Language Design 1.5 Language Categories 1.6 Language Design Trade-Offs 1.7 Implementation Methods 1.8 Programming Environments Summary • Review Questions • Problem Set

Chapter 2 Evolution of the Major Programming Languages 2.1 Zuse’s Plankalkül 2.2 Pseudocodes 2.3 The IBM 704 and Fortran 2.4 Functional Programming: Lisp 2.5 The First Step Toward Sophistication: ALGOL 60 2.6 Computerizing Business Records: COBOL 2.7 The Beginnings of Timesharing: Basic Interview: Alan Cooper–User Design and Language Design 2.8 Everything for Everybody: PL/I 2.9 Two Early Dynamic Languages: APL and SNOBOL 2.10 The Beginnings of Data Abstraction: SIMULA 67 2.11 Orthogonal Design: ALGOL 68 2.12 Some Early Descendants of the ALGOLs 2.13 Programming Based on Logic: Prolog 2.14 History’s Largest Design Effort: Ada 2.15 Object-Oriented Programming: Smalltalk 2.16 Combining Imperative and Object-Oriented Features: C++ 2.17 An Imperative-Based Object-Oriented Language: Java 2.18 Scripting Languages 2.19 The Flagship .NET Language: C# 2.20 Markup-Programming Hybrid Languages Summary • Bibliographic Notes • Review Questions • Problem Set • Programming Exercises

Chapter 3 Describing Syntax and Semantics 3.1 Introduction 3.2 The General Problem of Describing Syntax 3.3 Formal Methods of Describing Syntax 3.4 Attribute Grammars History Note 3.5 Describing the Meanings of Programs: Dynamic Semantics History Note Summary • Bibliographic Notes • Review Questions • Problem Set

Chapter 4 Lexical and Syntax Analysis 161 4.1 Introduction 4.2 Lexical Analysis 4.3 The Parsing Problem 4.4 Recursive-Descent Parsing 4.5 Bottom-Up Parsing Summary • Review Questions • Problem Set • Programming Exercises

Chapter 5 Names, Bindings, and Scopes 197 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Names History Note 5.3 Variables 5.4 The Concept of Binding 5.5 Scope 5.6 Scope and Lifetime 5.7 Referencing Environments 5.8 Named Constants Summary • Review Questions • Problem Set • Programming Exercises

Chapter 6 Data Types 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Primitive Data Types 6.3 Character String Types History Note 6.4 Enumeration Types 6.5 Array Types History Note History Note 6.6 Associative Arrays Interview: ROBERTO IERUSALIMSCHY–Lua 6.7 Record Types 6.8 Tuple Types 6.9 List Types 6.10 Union Types 6.11 Pointer and Reference Types History Note 6.12 Type Checking 6.13 Strong Typing 6.14 Type Equivalence 6.15 Theory and Data Types Summary • Bibliographic Notes • Review Questions • Problem Set • Programming Exercises

Chapter 7 Expressions and Assignment Statements 301 7.1 Introduction 7.2 Arithmetic Expressions 7.3 Overloaded Operators 7.4 Type Conversions History Note 7.5 Relational and Boolean Expressions History Note 7.6 Short-Circuit Evaluation 7.7 Assignment Statements History Note 7.8 Mixed-Mode Assignment Summary • Review Questions • Problem Set • Programming Exercises

Chapter 8 Statement-Level Control Structures 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Selection Statements 8.3 Iterative Statements 8.4 Unconditional Branching History Note 8.5 Guarded Commands 8.6 Conclusions Summary • Review Questions • Problem Set • Programming Exercises

Chapter 9 Subprograms 9.1 Introduction 9.2 Fundamentals of Subprograms 9.3 Design Issues for Subprograms 9.4 Local Referencing Environments 9.5 Parameter-Passing Methods History Note 9.6 Parameters That Are Subprograms History Note 9.7 Calling Subprograms Indirectly 9.8 Design Issues for Functions 9.9 Overloaded Subprograms 9.10 Generic Subprograms 9.11 User-Defined Overloaded Operators 9.12 Closures 9.13 Coroutines Summary • Review Questions • Problem Set • Programming Exercises

Chapter 10 Implementing Subprograms 10.1 The General Semantics of Calls and Returns 10.2 Implementing “Simple” Subprograms 10.3 Implementing Subprograms with Stack-Dynamic Local Variables 10.4 Nested Subprograms 10.5 Blocks 10.6 Implementing Dynamic Scoping Summary • Review Questions • Problem Set • Programming Exercises

Chapter 11 Abstract Data Types and Encapsulation Constructs 11.1 The Concept of Abstraction 11.2 Introduction to Data Abstraction 11.3 Design Issues for Abstract Data Types 11.4 Language Examples Interview: bjarne stroustrup–C++: Its Birth, Its Ubiquitousness, and Common Criticisms 11.5 Parameterized Abstract Data Types 11.6 Encapsulation Constructs 11.7 Naming Encapsulations Summary • Review Questions • Problem Set • Programming Exercises

Chapter 12 Support for Object-Oriented Programming 12.1 Introduction 12.2 Object-Oriented Programming 12.3 Design Issues for Object-Oriented Languages 12.4 Support for Object-Oriented Programming in Specific Languages Interview: BJARNE STROUSTRUP–On Paradigms and Better Programming 12.5 Implementation of Object-Oriented Constructs 12.6 Reflection Summary • Review Questions • Problem Set • Programming Exercises

Chapter 13 Concurrency 13.1 Introduction 13.2 Introduction to Subprogram-Level Concurrency 13.3 Semaphores 13.4 Monitors 13.5 Message Passing 13.6 Ada Support for Concurrency 13.7 Java Threads 13.8 C# Threads 13.9 Concurrency in Functional Languages 13.10 Statement-Level Concurrency Summary • Bibliographic Notes • Review Questions • Problem Set • Programming Exercises Chapter 14 Exception Handling and Event Handling

14.1 Introduction to Exception Handling History Note 14.2 Exception Handling in C++ 14.3 Exception Handling in Java 14.4 Exception Handling in Python and Ruby 14.5 Introduction to Event Handling 14.6 Event Handling with Java 14.7 Event Handling in C# Summary • Bibliographic Notes • Review Questions • Problem Set • Programming Exercises

Chapter 15 Functional Programming Languages 15.1 Introduction 15.2 Mathematical Functions 15.3 Fundamentals of Functional Programming Languages 15.4 The First Functional Programming Language: Lisp 15.5 An Introduction to Scheme 15.6 Common Lisp 15.7 ML 15.8 Haskell 15.9 F# 15.10 Support for Functional Programming in Primarily Imperative Languages 15.11 A Comparison of Functional and Imperative Languages Summary • Bibliographic Notes • Review Questions • Problem Set • Programming Exercises

Chapter 16 Logic Programming Languages 16.1 Introduction 16.2 A Brief Introduction to Predicate Calculus 16.3 Predicate Calculus and Proving Theorems 16.4 An Overview of Logic Programming 16.5 The Origins of Prolog 16.6 The Basic Elements of Prolog 16.7 Deficiencies of Prolog 16.8 Applications of Logic Programming Summary • Bibliographic Notes • Review Questions • Problem Set • Programming Exercises Bibliography Index

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