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Non-English-based programming languages

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Re: Non-English-based programming languages

#3

Post by marcosdumay »

mkalv wrote: post #2

Given the prevalence of subject-object-verb order in non-English languages, I'm mildly surprised there aren't more RPN or Forth-like languages in this list.

People just don't like RPN for some reason (habit maybe?). It's a mathematical preference, with little apparent feedback from the spoken language.

But I don't see the prevalence of subject-object-verb. At least western languages are mostly subject-verb-object. Are you talking about eastern ones?

Re: Non-English-based programming languages

#4

Post by philipov »

marcosdumay wrote: post #3
mkalv wrote: post #2

Given the prevalence of subject-object-verb order in non-English languages, I'm mildly surprised there aren't more RPN or Forth-like languages in this list.

People just don't like RPN for some reason (habit maybe?). It's a mathematical preference, with little apparent feedback from the spoken language. But I don't see the prevalence of subject-object-verb. At least western languages are mostly subject-verb-object. Are you talking about eastern ones?

SOV languages are the most numerous at 45% incidence[0], and include some big western ones, like Latin.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject%E2%80%93object%E2%80%9...

Re: Non-English-based programming languages

#6

Post by LaMarseillaise »

philipov wrote: post #4
marcosdumay wrote: post #3

Earlier quoted context omitted.

People just don't like RPN for some reason (habit maybe?). It's a mathematical preference, with little apparent feedback from the spoken language. But I don't see the prevalence of subject-object-verb. At least western languages are mostly subject-verb-object. Are you talking about eastern ones?

SOV languages are the most numerous at 45% incidence[0], and include some big western ones, like Latin. [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subject%E2%80%93object%E2%80%9...

Latin is not really SOV. It is common, but word order can vary greatly. In this case, you can actually use any combination (SOV, SVO, OVS...). Classical writers would often place the most important or impactful word in a sentence last, and this word is often the verb.

Re: Non-English-based programming languages

#7

Post by tmalsburg2 »

mkalv wrote: post #2

Given the prevalence of subject-object-verb order in non-English languages, I'm mildly surprised there aren't more RPN or Forth-like languages in this list.

I think RPN works okay in natural language because you can often use discourse- and world-knowledge to guess the verb before hearing it. When reading programming languages that may work less well. But also note that, at least in some languages, there seems to be some pressure to move the verb to the front. For example, German is classified as a verb-final language but in main clauses the verb is actually "moved" to second position (subject-verb-object). Final position is only "preserved" in subordinate clauses. This suggests that early verbs may be easier to process.

Re: Non-English-based programming languages

#8

Post by TACIXAT »

There is a Chinese programming language [1] (better archive of the original [4]) based off the phrase 草泥马 (cǎonímǎ) meaning grass mud horse [2]. It's a meme in China because it's a homonym for 肏你妈 (càonǐmā) meaning "fuck your mother". Foreign internet culture is cool [3].

1. https://code.google.com/archive/p/grass-mud-horse/

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grass_Mud_Horse

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Internet_phenomena_in_...

4. http://zqcoder.qiniucdn.com/data/20120914162548/index.html

Re: Non-English-based programming languages

#9

Post by derefr »

mkalv wrote: post #2

Given the prevalence of subject-object-verb order in non-English languages, I'm mildly surprised there aren't more RPN or Forth-like languages in this list.

I'm always surprised that Ruby in particular, given its purely Japanese roots, resembles SVO a lot more than SOV.

Though, on the other hand, for object-oriented languages in general, I often wish people new to them knew Japanese, because the "." operator (field-access, method lookup/calling) is kind of hard to explain in terms of English grammar, but in Japanese, you can just tell students to pronounce it as a の and they immediately get it.

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