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that's certainly funny up to the day where you have to debug a codebase where all the function names and comments are in japanese. Also, I lost so much time se

that's certainly funny up to the day where you have to debug a codebase where all the function names and comments are in japanese. Also, I lost so much time searching for issues in badly-localized error messages that I nowadays just set my computers in english even though it's not my main language. It's just more efficient.

Nasrudith 7y ago
Yeah I have seen that. It highlights the one weakness of text based code formats - still prevaling for a good reason. Multiple languages for developers is kind of a fringe case for functionality seen more in importers and fantranslaters.
- ourlordcaffeine 7y ago
  > It highlights the one weakness of text based code formats This is why I program exclusively in Piet
SiempreViernes 7y ago
Eh, I had to support a codebase where the comments where in inproperly encoded cryllic. But happily the code was a php app that had lots of large hand crafted if soups for handling dates, so I'm pretty sure the comments were useless anyway.
knolax 7y ago
In the current status quo your nightmare scenario (having to debug a codebase with comments in a diffeeent language) is precisely the everyday reality for non-English speaking devs. A Japanese dev could easily make the same comment as you, the difference being he actually has to deal with situation in question on a daily basis. You could make the argument that English is the "lingua franca" but the phrase itself demonstrates just how ephemeral that is. I've lived in places before where a generation ago Russian was taught as a "lingua franca". Nowadays you would be hard-pressed to find anybody with a good understanding of Russian (good enough to understand technical documentation) there, even amongst ethnic Russians.
- ralusek 7y ago
  The internet has changed what it means to be the Lingua Franca. The ubiquity of English language in the largest internet communities and high quality media content would have to have a very strange reason to change. Before, it was simply a function of your colonizer or trading partners.

Nasrudith 7y ago

Yeah I have seen that. It highlights the one weakness of text based code formats - still prevaling for a good reason. Multiple languages for developers is kind of a fringe case for functionality seen more in importers and fantranslaters.

ourlordcaffeine 7y ago
> It highlights the one weakness of text based code formats This is why I program exclusively in Piet

SiempreViernes 7y ago

Eh, I had to support a codebase where the comments where in inproperly encoded cryllic. But happily the code was a php app that had lots of large hand crafted if soups for handling dates, so I'm pretty sure the comments were useless anyway.

knolax 7y ago

In the current status quo your nightmare scenario (having to debug a codebase with comments in a diffeeent language) is precisely the everyday reality for non-English speaking devs. A Japanese dev could easily make the same comment as you, the difference being he actually has to deal with situation in question on a daily basis. You could make the argument that English is the "lingua franca" but the phrase itself demonstrates just how ephemeral that is. I've lived in places before where a generation ago Russian was taught as a "lingua franca". Nowadays you would be hard-pressed to find anybody with a good understanding of Russian (good enough to understand technical documentation) there, even amongst ethnic Russians.

ralusek 7y ago
The internet has changed what it means to be the Lingua Franca. The ubiquity of English language in the largest internet communities and high quality media content would have to have a very strange reason to change. Before, it was simply a function of your colonizer or trading partners.