The browser doesn't have to be a GUI browser a la IE or FF. It can be something as simple as Notepad or some other editor.

Sure. And, I could step through an algorithm written in C using nothing but pencil and paper too... I don't think you are making a point here.

As for HTML being a programming language, I think Stroustrop is trying to find ducks that dig. It just doesn't pass the sniff test.

It only smells funny because you've had your nose so close to—uh... for lack of a better word—"real" programming languages. It is, however, a communication standard and it is used to control devices. Outside of the technical community, that's enough. Inside the technical community, we kind of draw a line between "programming languages" and more general "computer languages" but, again, that distinction isn't very useful to anyone but us. And more importantly, in a legal context it isn't going to help much if at all.

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";

It doesn't pass the sniff test because it stinks. By that definition, phonecalls are a "computer language" because it's both a communication standard and is regularly used to control devices^*. Yet, not a single person in the world would agree that the protocol used by telephones is a "computer language".

<rant>There seems to be some fundamental misunderstanding of how computers work in the mind of the general public. What we do is not magic nor is it some completely new idiom in the history of mankind. We define tasks, then hand them off to a servant (slave, really) to do. The only difference between a computer programmer and a slaveowner in Rome is that our slave will do exactly what we say, has perfect recall, and will do it for as long as was asked for. We're not wizards in a tower stirring a bubbling cauldron containing Eye of Newt and Bat's Wings. Gah! We do nothing more than give directions from A to B.</rant>

* Remote detonation of a bomb is just the first example that comes to mind. Another is the standard automated thing that you get when you call your bank looking for a human.

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My criteria for good software:

1. Does it work?
2. Can someone else come in, make a change, and be reasonably certain no bugs were introduced?

I do understand the irritation. And I had pretty much the same reaction in that debate with my professor a decade or so ago.

By that definition, phonecalls are a "computer language" because it's both a communication standard and is regularly used to control devices.

How is a phonecall a communication standard? Regardless of how you answer that, though, I just see it degrading into a discussion about the definition of "language" in this context and I'm not sure how useful that is. If we can agree that HTML is a language and that it is used to control devices, that's sufficient.

The only difference between a computer programmer and a slaveowner in Rome is that our slave will do exactly what we say, has perfect recall, and will do it for as long as was asked for.

Provided you don't ask it to do anything too complicated (like feeding you grapes), you are very careful in the way you ask it, you don't require it to recall... say... an irrational number, and you have an infinite supply of power and hardware that will never wear out. :-)

-sauoq
"My two cents aren't worth a dime.";