Programming languages all posses one thing that most (perhaps all) natural languages lack: a 1:1 equivalence with some mathematical construct, or an abstraction backed-up by such a construct. In order for a natural language to be useful for programming computers the language must be completely describable in mathematical terms.
The English-Likeness Monster Stalks a New Generation of Programmers
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Re: The English-Likeness Monster Stalks a New Generation of Programmers
#12This is a talk by Guy Steele and Richard Gabriel you might like it: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nii1n8PYLrc
It was beautiful.
Re: The English-Likeness Monster Stalks a New Generation of Programmers
#13There's no point in asking computers to interpret the ambiguity of English commands, but there is room for improving tools that attempt to elucidate meaning from English statements and are capable for formulating questions. The fact is that English is perfectly serviceable for people to communicate complex concepts to each other through either conversation or context. (s/English/your native language)
Re: The English-Likeness Monster Stalks a New Generation of Programmers
#14It makes me think of MUDs, specifically my once-upon-a-time favorite, Dragonrealms. It had the usual "command direct-object" syntactical format common to MUDs, but it became an infamous problem to wrestle with the parser to find the correct "obvious" action. > put amulet on drawer > put amulet in drawer > put amulet behind drawer > place amulet on drawer > give amulet to drawer > push amulet to drawer > show amulet t…
+1 for MUDs, MOOs, etc. I played Ancient Anguish in the late 90s / early 2000s. Similar story, although often figuring out (guessing) the correct verb was used as part of quests...
Re: The English-Likeness Monster Stalks a New Generation of Programmers
#15I think PowerShell suffers from this issue, except it was defined by people that speak English as a second language.
You're going to have to explain what on Earth you mean. PowerShell just reads (and writes) like someone forced Perl and .NET to have a child. AppleScript, Inform 7, Smalltalk-72, and other "English" languages dream of being in the same boat as PowerShell in terms of consistency, readability, or power.
Re: The English-Likeness Monster Stalks a New Generation of Programmers
#16I'm not sure DSLs qualify as "the English-Likeness monster". A good DSL isn't about being like english, it's about being concise and expressive in the given domain. A good DSL has no need to "look like English".
People often think of DSLs as a way of making a concise, expressive view of the domain look like English. See, for example, RSpec.
(I guess what I'm really saying is that you're right, but you're saying something else, raganwald is right too.)
Re: The English-Likeness Monster Stalks a New Generation of Programmers
#17[deleted]
Re: The English-Likeness Monster Stalks a New Generation of Programmers
#18I'm not sure DSLs qualify as "the English-Likeness monster". A good DSL isn't about being like english, it's about being concise and expressive in the given domain. A good DSL has no need to "look like English".
People often think of DSLs as a way of making a concise, expressive view of the domain look like English. See, for example, RSpec. (I guess what I'm really saying is that you're right, but you're saying something else, raganwald is right too.)
I'm having a variant of the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon where I start seeing something everywhere after writing about it (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5056667).
Re: The English-Likeness Monster Stalks a New Generation of Programmers
#19> "It's far simpler to learn a precise, unambiguous language and manipulate the parser directly."
Since no one else has mentioned it yet, Lojban [1] seems like the perfect candidate for this.
Re: The English-Likeness Monster Stalks a New Generation of Programmers
#20 Mathematicians have been developing more abstract and concise symbols for hundreds of years and it looks nothing like English or any other natural language. If I had to guess I would say that future programming languages will look more like mathematics than anything else.