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Not so. Natural language is easier because I can learn in a minute to say "Hello world" in a language like German. But it takes forever to fluently write bug-f
by akkartik 19y ago
Not so. Natural language is easier because I can learn in a minute to say "Hello world" in a language like German. But it takes forever to fluently write bug-free code for million-line projects.
It's a good question to discuss, if we can get past simplistic apples-to-oranges comparisons. On the one hand natural languages have large vocabularies and cultural context that must be assimilated over time. On the other hand pidgin German works where pidgin lisp does not - natural languages allow more error in the medium.
- amichail 19y agoIt only takes a minute to learn to say "Hello World" in Python also. I'm not talking about writing bug-free code for million-line projects. Rather, I'm taking about writing simple small programs. That's easy.
- akkartik 19y agoYou compared writing small programs in python with taking years to learn a natural language. I pointed out that the two are not equivalent undertakings. It's not a fair comparison. Natural languages are not 'easier' or 'harder' than programming languages, they're just different kinds of skills. There's lots of evidence for this: some people have aptitude for one, some for the other.
- amichail 19y agoThere are at least two very difficult things about natural languages: messy illogical syntax and enormous vocabulary. For a simple language such as python, you can learn most of the syntax very quickly. Vocabulary (e.g., libraries) takes a bit longer but still requires much less memorization. And you can always create things from scratch.
- geebee 19y agoBut you still haven't addressed the main objection here: that you're comparing two different undertakings. You've compared writing a small app in a high level language with learning a natural language. You could have just as easily said it isn't as hard as proving fermat's last theorem, or writing a novel, or composing a symphony. Thsse things also have a few elements in common with writing a short script in a high level language. But these comparisons don't mean a thing.
- amichail 19y agoIf a student already knows English, then it's better to learn to write small programs in a high-level language than it is to learn another natural language.
- pixcavator 19y ago>Natural language is easier because I can learn in a minute to say "Hello world" in a language like German. If that's all you can say in German, it's like _copying_ a "Hello world" program from someone else. That takes two seconds.
- akkartik 19y agoI was taking amichail's comparison - writing small programs in python vs learning a new natural language - and making it even more extreme to highlight its unfairness. Apparently nobody gets sarcasm anymore :)
- pixcavator 19y agoI did get it. And I wasn't serious either.
- amichail 19y agoIf a student already knows English, then it's better to learn to write small programs in a high-level language than it is to learn another natural language.