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قلب: a non-ASCII programming language written in Arabic

nas.sr

271–280 of 657 posts

Re: قلب: a non-ASCII programming language written in Arabic

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As discussed elsewhere in the thread, the few dozen keywords are a different matter (and are just memorized to mean "make the computer do ..."), but having useful error messages from your compiler helps get stuff sorted out more quickly. There are, to this day, people who get in trouble when their computers reply to them in English, including coding folks. I bet they were (and are) thankful for initiatives like yours…

Localized error messages are detrimental to solving the problem as googling the error message in a different language will prevent you from finding a solution in the main language.

In compilers it's not uncommon to output an error code in addition to the human readable message. That allows you to google independent of language.

Of course if you turn on localized error messages you might actually prefer results in your own language.

Re: قلب: a non-ASCII programming language written in Arabic

#272

This is at best useless, and at worst harmful. If we start using languages other than English for code, then we'll end up balkanizing the software world. People in humanities departments can talk about things like "Chinese Poetry" and "Continental Philosophy," but in STEM, we should be above that nonsense. I should be able to read code written anywhere in the world and understand what it does. This is the same reason…

Im not sure your analogy holds ground. Different programming languages are created try to solve limitations in existing programming langs. Writing it in a different ascii character set isn't solving any technical issue - it's solving an accessibility issue, but compounding the problem of compatibility tremendously. Obviously there is a efficient middle ground between accessibility and compatibility. It's great for mo…

I'm not sure that I accept the distinction between technical issues and accessibility issues in the case of programming languages. Any Turing-complete language, given the right tooling, can be used to solve any software problem. Ultimately, we only use languages other than FORTRAN (or even assembly, for that matter) because it's easier.

Re: قلب: a non-ASCII programming language written in Arabic

#273
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was 10, the Dutch language manual for the Commodore 64 explained the pronunciation of "input#", but not that of just "input". So I (unfamiliar with foreign languages) thought that "input" was pronounced as we would in Dutch, while "input#" sounded like what I now know is English. A class mate said his father said they were both pronounced as in English. We had a fight over this in the playground, and I beat hi…

My brain is parsing how a Dutch input would sound different in Dutch? "in de put" vs "input" sounds the same, no? What is different?

There is definitely a difference. If you don't hear it, you might be saying one of them incorrectly? Wiktionary has audio files for input (English) and put (Dutch) if you need a comparison. In IPA the difference is ʊ vs ʏ. In terms of describing it to a Dutch person I would say the English u is somewhere between the Dutch u and the Dutch oe sounds.

Re: قلب: a non-ASCII programming language written in Arabic

#274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

As discussed elsewhere in the thread, the few dozen keywords are a different matter (and are just memorized to mean "make the computer do ..."), but having useful error messages from your compiler helps get stuff sorted out more quickly. There are, to this day, people who get in trouble when their computers reply to them in English, including coding folks. I bet they were (and are) thankful for initiatives like yours…

The tech community greatly benefits from settling on a lingua franca. Imagine if everyone posted on StackExchange using their native tongue.

> The tech community greatly benefits from settling on a lingua franca

Maybe we see that in a few years, with everything moving to Chinese.

> Imagine if everyone posted on StackExchange using their native tongue.

Imagine users going to forums in their own language. People actually do that.

Re: قلب: a non-ASCII programming language written in Arabic

#275
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When I was 10, the Dutch language manual for the Commodore 64 explained the pronunciation of "input#", but not that of just "input". So I (unfamiliar with foreign languages) thought that "input" was pronounced as we would in Dutch, while "input#" sounded like what I now know is English. A class mate said his father said they were both pronounced as in English. We had a fight over this in the playground, and I beat hi…

My brain is parsing how a Dutch input would sound different in Dutch? "in de put" vs "input" sounds the same, no? What is different?

That's how I pronounced it. English input sounds more like Dutch "inpoet", the manual said input# was pronounced "inpoet-nummer".

(edit: long live the Internet, it's on page 135 of the manual here: https://docplayer.nl/11208014-Gebruikershandleiding-nederlan... . Nostalgia).

Re: قلب: a non-ASCII programming language written in Arabic

#277
post #251

This is at best useless, and at worst harmful. If we start using languages other than English for code, then we'll end up balkanizing the software world. People in humanities departments can talk about things like "Chinese Poetry" and "Continental Philosophy," but in STEM, we should be above that nonsense. I should be able to read code written anywhere in the world and understand what it does. This is the same reason…

While it’s a good joke, in reality it does not compute. “Learning a new language” as in programming language, sits in the days-to-months range, while “learning a new language” as in Arabic takes months-to-years, so you’re building a much, much deeper chasm for others to cross and contribute, even though the source code remains English-based. You can already see this happening with some open source libraries coming fr…

As you say it's already happening for project where all the documentation is not in English.

So what's wrong if the language also is not in English? Can you not imagine that some projects don't care whether you specifically can contribute or not?

It's not the first language not in English actually, WLanguage for example from WinDev can be written in English, French or Chinese.

Re: قلب: a non-ASCII programming language written in Arabic

#278

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So glad this turned out to be a joke in the second paragraf. The first is very believable. I've definitely encountered people who would write something like it unironically.

Yeah, thanks for saying that in English, I wouldn't have been able to understand you in any other language.

da nicht für

Re: قلب: a non-ASCII programming language written in Arabic

#279
post #251

This is at best useless, and at worst harmful. If we start using languages other than English for code, then we'll end up balkanizing the software world. People in humanities departments can talk about things like "Chinese Poetry" and "Continental Philosophy," but in STEM, we should be above that nonsense. I should be able to read code written anywhere in the world and understand what it does. This is the same reason…

While it’s a good joke, in reality it does not compute. “Learning a new language” as in programming language, sits in the days-to-months range, while “learning a new language” as in Arabic takes months-to-years, so you’re building a much, much deeper chasm for others to cross and contribute, even though the source code remains English-based. You can already see this happening with some open source libraries coming fr…

Not only that, you can see people trying to escape the divisions on the programming language landscape, for example on the data-science field Python is miles ahead of any other language (and such homogeneity is widely seen as a good thing).

Re: قلب: a non-ASCII programming language written in Arabic

#280
post #203

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A lot of people don't speak English and I think it's main barrier to become a programmer or QA engineer.

Good! We need less shitty software, the fewer people that write it the better. I don't get why you have to be a certified engineer to build a bridge, but you can be some bloke with a 2 weekend course in python to program medical computers, avionics, train scheduling systems and other stuff that kills people when it breaks. Non native speaker btw.

Because man-hours is the limiting factor in software that is made. Additional software simply gives you more options to choose from. Yes, it contributes to noise, but it's nothing like building two bridges.
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