10 February, 2025

HTML Is Not a Programming Language…

Written by Harry Roberts on CSS Wizardry.

I adore HTML. I actually, really do. It’s the performance engineer’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, that goes something like knowledge is knowing a tomato is a fruit; wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad. 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 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 Oh! You must meet Harry! He’s a software engineer, too!, I would be mortified. I couldn’t hold a candle 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!

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 ❤️