Yes, obviously there is some conceptual similarity to written language, but the goals are really quite different. Human language is used to communicate, which i

Yes, obviously there is some conceptual similarity to written language, but the goals are really quite different. Human language is used to communicate, which involves theory of mind and modelling the listener. Programming language is just specifying a computation to be performed. Still, it's interesting to consider why the "language areas" of the brain apparently are not used for reading or writing computer language (or for other different types of mental activity for that matter). Some processing areas of the brain are obviously dictated by connectivity and adjacency (visual pathway connects to visual cortex, auditory pathways connect to auditory cortex), but reading of both prose and computer code comes in visually, so why does one get processed by Wernicke's area, and one not?! The best I can guess is that multiple areas of association cortex might be competing to recognize/predict visual inputs, and those areas best equipped to do so will win and perhaps suppress the others. If this suggestion is true - that via competition the best suited area of brain gets used, then it begs the question what are the key differences, pertinent to the brain, between written prose and computer code that cause this differentiated processing?