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The code itself is a mere curiosity, but it has two key takeaways. First, writing code in national languages is mostly a shit idea. Here we can at least recogn

The code itself is a mere curiosity, but it has two key takeaways. First, writing code in national languages is mostly a shit idea. Here we can at least recognize and match some words, but what if it was Arabic or Chinese script? Even with source code, you just might've been better off with a disassembly. Second, don't underestimate Pascal. For all its faults, the language is very readable, and its build and module systems are still more convenient than most of what we have today. I dearly miss the time when you could just download some code, hack on it, press Ctrl+F9 and see the result.

canadianfella 3y ago
[dead]
zokier 3y ago
> First, writing code in national languages is mostly a shit idea Is English not a national language?
- Koshkin 3y ago
  That’s not the point. For all intents and purposes English is an international language, and I’ve always had a strong doubt that UNIX, for example, or C, could become as wide-spread if they were based on some other language.
  - FartyMcFarter 3y ago
    We're not talking about UNIX, it's a personal project. Saying it's a "shit idea" to choose a particular style for a personal project is a huge stretch, and quite rude to be honest.
shrimp_emoji 3y ago
Imagine if we had to write `整数 i = 0`.
msla 3y ago
> Second, don't underestimate Pascal. One of the problems with Pascal is that practically nobody used it. They used Pascal-ish languages like "Borland Pascal"™ and "Delphi"™ and other proprietary systems that flat-out don't work on modern operating systems without a lot of annoyance and expense such that it's easier to rewrite the code. Pascal was a teaching language from the 1960s which was good enough to steal ideas from but not good enough to actually copy.
- pjmlp 3y ago
  Apparently not an issue with all the C dialects until 1989. And it still isn't good enough to compile the Linux kernel.
- hnlmorg 3y ago
  It was the norm for programming languages to have different dialects. Some languages still do (JavaScript, for example, can have differing support depending on your target VM). Java is another recent(ish) example. I guess those two languages will never succeed either /s The idea of standardising languages came about because every commercial compiler (remember that the idea of languages being open source is a relatively recent one) implemented their own features. Sometimes it would be even worse than that and the same commercial compiler would have different features for different target platforms (be it CPU architecture or operating system). It’s also worth noting that a lot of popular modern languages still aren’t standardised and instead we have what’s called “reference implementations”. Go, Python, PHP, C# etc. The standard for those languages is driven by the governing body of their respective de facto implementation. As an aside, we live in a golden age for programming. It’s never been easier nor cheaper to picking a language and start coding in it. But back when I first started out you had to buy compilers and they weren’t usually cheap. Also it feels a little weird that you lump Borland Pascal and Delphi as examples Of different dialects. On the one hand they could be argued as different languages (like C vs C++). But on the other hand they were both Borland products so valid Borland Pascal was still valid Delphi (I know this from experience too).
  - msla 3y ago
    What dialects of Java are there? Not versions, dialects. (There was a court case to prevent Java from fragmenting, but I guess people around here are too young to remember.) Also, Go and PHP don't have dialects, either. Not having an ISO standard is irrelevant as long as the actual language is unified.
matheusmoreira 3y ago
> writing code in national languages is mostly a shit idea Huh? Plenty of people out there who don't speak english, should they just be excluded?
- tourmalinetaco 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - johnofthesea 3y ago
    I get your point, but it is not just for Polish speakers. I am not Polish speaker and can understand it because it is more related to my native language than English.
  - FartyMcFarter 3y ago
    How are you being excluded? You can write code in any language you want, and you're not entitled to read any particular personal project written by someone else.
    - tourmalinetaco 3y ago
      I am excluded because I cannot understand the Github. The entire point of the comment chain was accessibility, and English being the preferred language for codebases from a sheer accessibility standpoint. Of course I an not “entitled” to read any project, I never made that argument. However, posting a Polish game in Polish code on an English discussion board seems rather perplexing. The majority of readers will not be able to even browse the code, let alone do anything like contribute. It turns the entire discussion away from the code or game, and again, to one of accessibility.
- wtfdeer 3y ago
  Having tried to teach a few acquaintances some programming tidbits, I can tell you that they're already excluded. The local programming textbooks are made of cringe, the vocabulary is confusing and the documentation is scarce and out of date and often poorly translated.
hnlmorg 3y ago
it depends on who you are writing software for. Not every project is open source (this wasn’t originally) and even some open source projects aren’t intended to be used by people outside of a specific region. Furthermore, if someone is writing a hobby project, particularly to learn to code, (again like this project was) then they should be allowed to code in their own language.

canadianfella 3y ago

[dead]

zokier 3y ago

> First, writing code in national languages is mostly a shit idea Is English not a national language?

Koshkin 3y ago
That’s not the point. For all intents and purposes English is an international language, and I’ve always had a strong doubt that UNIX, for example, or C, could become as wide-spread if they were based on some other language.
- FartyMcFarter 3y ago
  We're not talking about UNIX, it's a personal project. Saying it's a "shit idea" to choose a particular style for a personal project is a huge stretch, and quite rude to be honest.

shrimp_emoji 3y ago

Imagine if we had to write `整数 i = 0`.

msla 3y ago

> Second, don't underestimate Pascal. One of the problems with Pascal is that practically nobody used it. They used Pascal-ish languages like "Borland Pascal"™ and "Delphi"™ and other proprietary systems that flat-out don't work on modern operating systems without a lot of annoyance and expense such that it's easier to rewrite the code. Pascal was a teaching language from the 1960s which was good enough to steal ideas from but not good enough to actually copy.

pjmlp 3y ago
Apparently not an issue with all the C dialects until 1989. And it still isn't good enough to compile the Linux kernel.
hnlmorg 3y ago
It was the norm for programming languages to have different dialects. Some languages still do (JavaScript, for example, can have differing support depending on your target VM). Java is another recent(ish) example. I guess those two languages will never succeed either /s The idea of standardising languages came about because every commercial compiler (remember that the idea of languages being open source is a relatively recent one) implemented their own features. Sometimes it would be even worse than that and the same commercial compiler would have different features for different target platforms (be it CPU architecture or operating system). It’s also worth noting that a lot of popular modern languages still aren’t standardised and instead we have what’s called “reference implementations”. Go, Python, PHP, C# etc. The standard for those languages is driven by the governing body of their respective de facto implementation. As an aside, we live in a golden age for programming. It’s never been easier nor cheaper to picking a language and start coding in it. But back when I first started out you had to buy compilers and they weren’t usually cheap. Also it feels a little weird that you lump Borland Pascal and Delphi as examples Of different dialects. On the one hand they could be argued as different languages (like C vs C++). But on the other hand they were both Borland products so valid Borland Pascal was still valid Delphi (I know this from experience too).
- msla 3y ago
  What dialects of Java are there? Not versions, dialects. (There was a court case to prevent Java from fragmenting, but I guess people around here are too young to remember.) Also, Go and PHP don't have dialects, either. Not having an ISO standard is irrelevant as long as the actual language is unified.

matheusmoreira 3y ago

> writing code in national languages is mostly a shit idea Huh? Plenty of people out there who don't speak english, should they just be excluded?

tourmalinetaco 3y ago
[flagged]
- johnofthesea 3y ago
  I get your point, but it is not just for Polish speakers. I am not Polish speaker and can understand it because it is more related to my native language than English.
- FartyMcFarter 3y ago
  How are you being excluded? You can write code in any language you want, and you're not entitled to read any particular personal project written by someone else.
  - tourmalinetaco 3y ago
    I am excluded because I cannot understand the Github. The entire point of the comment chain was accessibility, and English being the preferred language for codebases from a sheer accessibility standpoint. Of course I an not “entitled” to read any project, I never made that argument. However, posting a Polish game in Polish code on an English discussion board seems rather perplexing. The majority of readers will not be able to even browse the code, let alone do anything like contribute. It turns the entire discussion away from the code or game, and again, to one of accessibility.
wtfdeer 3y ago
Having tried to teach a few acquaintances some programming tidbits, I can tell you that they're already excluded. The local programming textbooks are made of cringe, the vocabulary is confusing and the documentation is scarce and out of date and often poorly translated.

hnlmorg 3y ago

it depends on who you are writing software for. Not every project is open source (this wasn’t originally) and even some open source projects aren’t intended to be used by people outside of a specific region. Furthermore, if someone is writing a hobby project, particularly to learn to code, (again like this project was) then they should be allowed to code in their own language.