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Ask HN: What are the most popular non-English programming languages?

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Re: Ask HN: What are the most popular non-English programming languages?

#11

Post by hackuser »

allendoerfer wrote: post #9
hackuser wrote: post #6

To native English speakers: How likely is it that you would have become a developer if all code was written in Chinese (or pick another language with glyphs that you don't even recognize)? Would you have become a web user if URLs were in Chinese? What would be the size of the population of developers in the U.S., relative to today, if all code was written in Chinese?

That is not a fair comparison for most people, because English is the most popular second language. For example in Europe it's not like we have to learn something totally different (like Chinese is to English). I would say most people who have a computer know at least some very basic English. I started programming at around 13 years old when I have had English classes for 2 or 3 years (since 5th grade) and did not ha…

> That is not a fair comparison for most people, because English is the most popular second language

According to Wikipedia, FWIW, 1.5 billion people speak English as a first or second language. That means there is a significant language barrier for ~78% of the world.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_num...

> in Europe it's not like we have to learn something totally different (like Chinese is to English)

Imagine how English is for the 1 billion people in China!

I wonder how many people are fluent in languages using the Latin alphabet, or speak any Indo-European language.

Re: Ask HN: What are the most popular non-English programming languages?

#12

Post by jobigoud »

Tomte wrote: post #8
jobigoud wrote: post #5

As engineers I think we can all see the benefits of having a standard language to back keywords. I mean, culturally it's nice to have many languages throughout the world but imagine how easier everything would be if everybody on the planet spoke the same language. Now imagine if you had to relearn the name of "true", "false", "if", "for", etc. each time you change language… Bonkers. Anectdote: As a non native speaker…

Ah, the times when Microsoft translated VBA keywords into German... But while they gave that up, we still have localized Excel function names. I don't know how robust exchanging Excel files really is, it makes me nervous, at least. But given that many companies are global now and Excel is an important backbone to any company, there cannot be more than rare and minor problems with it, I guess.

And also the netsh urlacl command line where you have to put the standard user group name "everybody" in the computer's locale.

https://stackoverflow.com/questions/18855607/create-sddl-fai...

Re: Ask HN: What are the most popular non-English programming languages?

#13

Post by anonx »

1C:Enterprise Programming Language is pretty popular in CIS countries. It is high level, looks like Visual Basic but has Russian syntax. Sample: [1]. Not something I like, just a popular language I'm aware of. Cannot say whether it's worth it. I guess it depends on what exactly you're trying to achieve.

http://i.imgur.com/r98WGEM.jpg

Re: Ask HN: What are the most popular non-English programming languages?

#14

Post by allendoerfer »

hackuser wrote: post #11
allendoerfer wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That is not a fair comparison for most people, because English is the most popular second language. For example in Europe it's not like we have to learn something totally different (like Chinese is to English). I would say most people who have a computer know at least some very basic English. I started programming at around 13 years old when I have had English classes for 2 or 3 years (since 5th grade) and did not ha…

> That is not a fair comparison for most people, because English is the most popular second language According to Wikipedia, FWIW, 1.5 billion people speak English as a first or second language. That means there is a significant language barrier for ~78% of the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_num... > in Europe it's not like we have to learn something totally different (like Chinese is…

>According to Wikipedia, FWIW, 1.5 billion people speak English as a first or second language. That means there is a significant language barrier for ~78% of the world.

As I argued, that's not exactly true. As long as your mother tongue is not something totally different, you do not have to qualify as an English speaker to learn how to program. It's the same with games: Sure, kids don't know how to pronounce "Game over", but they know what it means.

Re: Ask HN: What are the most popular non-English programming languages?

#15

Post by Avalaxy »

akeruu wrote: post #10

Altough I'm not sure it counts as programming language but Excell's functions are definitely localized. While I can see the benefit for a less computer literate audience, I always find myself struggling when switching from an english Office installation to a localized one. I would strongly recommend against does this.

Exactly. I think Excel's translations are a real PITA. Makes it hard to google stuff.

Re: Ask HN: What are the most popular non-English programming languages?

#16

Post by hackuser »

allendoerfer wrote: post #14
hackuser wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That is not a fair comparison for most people, because English is the most popular second language According to Wikipedia, FWIW, 1.5 billion people speak English as a first or second language. That means there is a significant language barrier for ~78% of the world. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_languages_by_total_num... > in Europe it's not like we have to learn something totally different (like Chinese is…

>According to Wikipedia, FWIW, 1.5 billion people speak English as a first or second language. That means there is a significant language barrier for ~78% of the world. As I argued, that's not exactly true. As long as your mother tongue is not something totally different, you do not have to qualify as an English speaker to learn how to program. It's the same with games: Sure, kids don't know how to pronounce "Game ov…

I agree. That's why I was asking about the prevalence of Latin alphabets and Indo-European languages.
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