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When I write code, it's code. I don't read it like a human readable text. Because of that, I don't really care what it reads when I try to read it as a human re
by msoad 13y ago
When I write code, it's code. I don't read it like a human readable text. Because of that, I don't really care what it reads when I try to read it as a human readable text.
For example I don't even think about what it would mean in English if I write
while(true){ i++; if(i>100) break; }
I'm curious if native English speakers look at code as real English text sometimes? It should be funny, because when I translate my code to my native language(word-by-word) it's just meaningless and funny.
- iano 13y agoMaybe it depends on the language? I could see something like this in python: if not callable(something): make_callable(something) Which can (sortof) be read off in English.
- crazygringo 13y agoFor things like "while", "do", "return", "public", "private" I definitely think of it as "real English text". For things like "for", "wend" (while-end), "class", "switch", "main", they're divorced enough from any real English meaning that I just think of them as arbitrary coding words. So, it's kind of both, at least for me.
- angersock 13y agoesac anyone? :P
- icebraining 13y agofi
- eCa 13y agoI don't really understand what you mean with "real English text". I can't separate keywords from their true meaning, and it's much easier for me to understand the purpose of a keyword if its purpose matches its name. Every statement has a meaning, and every block is a story. If it wasn't readable we could just as well use BANCstar [1]. (Btw, I absolutely hate that Microsoft translates Excel formulas (and so on) in localized versions. I simply cannot program in my native language: I basically translate back to English mentally.) [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6311717 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6311717