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He also made some strange linguistic choices in his latest book[1]: "The word for 1 is misspelled. I use the corrected spelling wun. The pronunciation of one d

by ptx 6y ago

He also made some strange linguistic choices in his latest book[1]: "The word for 1 is misspelled. I use the corrected spelling wun. The pronunciation of one does not conform to any of the standard or special rules of English pronunciation." [1] https://howjavascriptworks.com/sample.html https://howjavascriptworks.com/sample.html

knolax 6y ago
Side note but that is the best typography I've ever seen in an HTML document.
- mhh__ 6y ago
  There are a few latex mimicking CSS styles with a similar vibe, I suggest having a look at those
ChrisSD 6y ago
It is quite amusing that he thinks the English language has "rules" as though it were a well designed programming language.
- erikerikson 6y ago
  The rules of a language are its conventions.
dgellow 6y ago
The context matters here: > The word for 1 is misspelled. I use the corrected spelling wun. The pronunciation of one does not conform to any of the standard or special rules of English pronunciation. And having the word for 1 start with the letter that looks like 0 is a bug. > The spelling of wun is unfamiliar to you so it might feel wrong. I am doing this intentionally to give you practice with the idea that a bad feeling about something unfamiliar is not proof that it is wrong. > This is how spelling reform happens. For example, some cat decides that it really would be better if through were spelled thru because it does not make sense that half of the letters in a popular word be silent, being wildly inefficient and putting an unnecessary burden on students of the language. Spelling reform is a struggle between tradition and reason, and sometimes, reason wins. I feel the same way about programming languages. So if wun makes more sense to you than one, then please join me in the effort. I understand that he's making a point on how reforming systems can feel, the example of "wun" instead of "one" is a way to communicate that to readers.

by ptx 6y ago

knolax 6y ago

Side note but that is the best typography I've ever seen in an HTML document.

mhh__ 6y ago
There are a few latex mimicking CSS styles with a similar vibe, I suggest having a look at those

ChrisSD 6y ago

It is quite amusing that he thinks the English language has "rules" as though it were a well designed programming language.

erikerikson 6y ago
The rules of a language are its conventions.

dgellow 6y ago

The context matters here: > The word for 1 is misspelled. I use the corrected spelling wun. The pronunciation of one does not conform to any of the standard or special rules of English pronunciation. And having the word for 1 start with the letter that looks like 0 is a bug. > The spelling of wun is unfamiliar to you so it might feel wrong. I am doing this intentionally to give you practice with the idea that a bad feeling about something unfamiliar is not proof that it is wrong. > This is how spelling reform happens. For example, some cat decides that it really would be better if through were spelled thru because it does not make sense that half of the letters in a popular word be silent, being wildly inefficient and putting an unnecessary burden on students of the language. Spelling reform is a struggle between tradition and reason, and sometimes, reason wins. I feel the same way about programming languages. So if wun makes more sense to you than one, then please join me in the effort. I understand that he's making a point on how reforming systems can feel, the example of "wun" instead of "one" is a way to communicate that to readers.