A language-independent specification (LIS) is a

programming language specification In computer programming, a programming language specification (or standard or definition) is a documentation artifact that defines a programming language so that users and implementors can agree on what programs in that language mean. Specificati ...

providing a common

interface Interface or interfacing may refer to: Academic journals * ''Interface'' (journal), by the Electrochemical Society * '' Interface, Journal of Applied Linguistics'', now merged with ''ITL International Journal of Applied Linguistics'' * '' Int ...

usable for defining

semantics Semantics (from grc, σημαντικός ''sēmantikós'', "significant") is the study of reference, meaning, or truth. The term can be used to refer to subfields of several distinct disciplines, including philosophy Philosophy (f ...

applicable toward arbitrary

language binding In programming and software design, binding is an application programming interface (API) that provides glue code specifically made to allow a programming language to use a foreign library or operating system service (one that is not native to th ...

s. LIS's are language-agnostic; they mitigate the risk that a certain language binding might reduce compatibility with other languages. An ideal LIS allows the language bindings to take advantage of features of a programming language uncompromisingly. Examples of LIS include

Interface description language interface description language or interface definition language (IDL), is a generic term for a language that lets a program or object written in one language communicate with another program written in an unknown language. IDLs describe an inter ...

, Simplified Wrapper and Interface Generator and Common Language Infrastructure. Recursive transcompiling can be used to distribute a language independent specification across many different technologies, with each technology potentially keeping an authoritative description of a different part of the specification. Recursive transcompiling provides the general methodology for distributing this authoritative information through the rest of the derivative code pipeline.

See also