English Is a Terrible Programming Language • Hacker News Board

Re: English Is a Terrible Programming Language

#11

Post by valenterry » Mon, Feb 06, 2023, 2:00 PM UTC

ttctciyf wrote: post #10

valenterry wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You forgot to say to pay attention to cars on the street. The executor of your code just got executed in a car accident. Oh, you mean car evasion is built in? Why isn't the same complexity then built into the roomba? Apples and oranges.

Kind of my point, roombas need code for things like how to cross a road, what a bruised apple looks like. Humans have this in well, wetware I guess :)

Yeah, but it doesn't mean that English is a great programming language. It rather means it's worse if even humans with so much builtin stuff have to learn so long to use mit more-or-less correctly. ;)

Re: English Is a Terrible Programming Language

#12

Post by valenterry » Mon, Feb 06, 2023, 2:02 PM UTC

anotherman554 wrote: post #8

valenterry wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

English is so wonderful, just to understand law (which then still has to be interpreted because of amiguity) we have fully fledged professions called "lawyer" and "judge" which learn how to deal with this awesome programming language for a handful of years before they are even allowed to start appling this programming language in practice at all.

The laws that get passed are the ones that get enough votes to be passed, not the ones that use the English language at maximum capacity, so that doesn't really tell you much about the capabilities of the English language. If someone rewrote the U.S constitution to be 1000% clearer, it would never pass into law because politicians cannot agree what the U.S. Constitution should say about issues like abortion.

Let's assume I agree with what you say. It still doesn't explain why people go through years of training, examinations and tests just because some parts are unclear on purpose.

Re: English Is a Terrible Programming Language

#13

Post by anotherman554 » Mon, Feb 06, 2023, 2:47 PM UTC

valenterry wrote: post #12

anotherman554 wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The laws that get passed are the ones that get enough votes to be passed, not the ones that use the English language at maximum capacity, so that doesn't really tell you much about the capabilities of the English language. If someone rewrote the U.S constitution to be 1000% clearer, it would never pass into law because politicians cannot agree what the U.S. Constitution should say about issues like abortion.

Let's assume I agree with what you say. It still doesn't explain why people go through years of training, examinations and tests just because some parts are unclear on purpose.

Most states require a law degree to be an attorney, but according to Wikipedia "Until the late 19th century, law schools were uncommon in the United States. Most people entered the legal profession through reading law, a form of independent study or apprenticeship, often under the supervision of an experienced attorney." Wikipedia indicates Abraham Lincoln was a self taught lawyer.

Since the requirement has changed but our language hasn't I don't know that the requirement tells you must about the language.

Re: English Is a Terrible Programming Language

#14

Post by ttctciyf » Mon, Feb 06, 2023, 5:52 PM UTC

valenterry wrote: post #11

ttctciyf wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kind of my point, roombas need code for things like how to cross a road, what a bruised apple looks like. Humans have this in well, wetware I guess :)

Yeah, but it doesn't mean that English is a great programming language. It rather means it's worse if even humans with so much builtin stuff have to learn so long to use mit more-or-less correctly. ;)

As usual, it's the whole platform not the specific language that's great :)