Two big differences I see: 1. Most people who learn to read start from a young age. It's rare to teach programming at 6 or incedently practice it everyday. 2.

Two big differences I see: 1. Most people who learn to read start from a young age. It's rare to teach programming at 6 or incedently practice it everyday. 2. Reading is almost the same as listening, like a 1:1 mapping. So it's evolved with spoken language.