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Good article :), here's my dissent... I, like most europeans (or for that matter most of the non anglo-saxon world), speak multiple languages on a daily basis.

Good article :), here's my dissent... I, like most europeans (or for that matter most of the non anglo-saxon world), speak multiple languages on a daily basis. I think its true that a language forces you to concentrate on certain things i.e. object gender, its relative distance, or shape when counting objects, but it doesn't make you "think" differently in any fundamental way. We all still perceive three chairs, or drei Stuhlen o tres sillas, and I think whatever system we were to develop so long as it allowed one language user to express (in any way) a symbol that could be interpreted by another language user it would suffice (see de Saussure). I agree that language is powerful, I just don't think it hinges on spoken language, just an ability to abstract. I don't believe anyone thinks in sentences or words and for most tasks - especially programming, I visualize in what's happening. That's my two cents :)

7952 14y ago
But doesn't your programming language change how you think about problems? Does a Lisp expert think the same way as a Java expert? Our spoken language is not something that was designed but is an artefact of thousands of years of social interaction. Of course most of the time it doesn't matter, but sometimes it does.
- glogla 14y ago
  This is sometimes theme in science fiction as well. While for example Snow Crash was a bit cheesy in this regard (reprogramming human brains with special words and similar stuff), the language used plays interesting role in The Culture series as well. EDIT: I would also suggest that Lisp and Java are more different than any two human languages in history. And even then, they are both Turing complete.
warmfuzzykitten 14y ago
If I were to heed a recent HN post, I would downgrade you for use of an anecdote in place of scientific data. I would do so, were it not that the article you comment on had not a single reference. So I guess "the state of my mind (as my inconsistency-rejecting brain perceives it) refutes your unfounded theories" is fair game.
- mintplant 14y ago
  There are, indeed, references -- six of them -- at the bottom of the original post.

7952 14y ago

But doesn't your programming language change how you think about problems? Does a Lisp expert think the same way as a Java expert? Our spoken language is not something that was designed but is an artefact of thousands of years of social interaction. Of course most of the time it doesn't matter, but sometimes it does.

glogla 14y ago
This is sometimes theme in science fiction as well. While for example Snow Crash was a bit cheesy in this regard (reprogramming human brains with special words and similar stuff), the language used plays interesting role in The Culture series as well. EDIT: I would also suggest that Lisp and Java are more different than any two human languages in history. And even then, they are both Turing complete.

warmfuzzykitten 14y ago

If I were to heed a recent HN post, I would downgrade you for use of an anecdote in place of scientific data. I would do so, were it not that the article you comment on had not a single reference. So I guess "the state of my mind (as my inconsistency-rejecting brain perceives it) refutes your unfounded theories" is fair game.

mintplant 14y ago
There are, indeed, references -- six of them -- at the bottom of the original post.