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Date:	Thu, 7 Aug 2003 15:23:39 PDT7
From:	Tom Novelli <tcn@mtdata.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-programming@scoug.com
To:	scoug-programming@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Programming: Re: Warpstock 2003 Presentation

Content Type: text/plain

Peter Skye wrote:
>
> > is all the complexity of the 1960's languages still
> > necessary? Even C seems like overkill. Portability
> > isn't always worth the trouble. If some radically
> > different machine hits the market in 10 years, that
> > seems like a good time to rewrite code.
>
> So the language may change but the algorithm will stay the same, yes?
>
> Then for portability and future value the algorithm shouldn't be written
> in some current HLL.

Right.. look at Don Knuth's masterpiece :) Which contains different
algorithms, some of which are better suited to one machine architecture or
another.. that's why you'd rewrite the code.

I'd rather hardware just stayed the same for a few centuries so software
would have a chance to catch up :)

> You're laughing at my quest for English as a programming language.
> Perhaps you wrote COBOL at one time (I did). Perhaps you see some
> potential problems (Bob mentioned ambiguity). Perhaps you hated your
> high school English teacher.

How'd you guess? So bad I dropped out :) My college English professors
took a more cavalier attitude though. One of them said that grammar is
just a lousy attempt to describe the way we actually speak...

> But English would work. I wish I could be at the next Programming SIG
> and participate in a workshop where we could try some chalkboard
> programming in English and see if it was workable. I think it is.

It works for describing algorithms to humans.. math, flowcharts and
diagrams help.. but it takes Real(tm) 100% Natural Intelligence to
understand English. Maybe a less bastardized language (like Spanish or
Gaelic) or an "artificial" trade language (Swahili?) would work better,
but they still use idiom and metaphor. Computers are machines; they can
only process mechanical instructions. So you have to impose some serious
restrictions on English, and you end up with COBOL or Pascal or BASIC,
which definitely leave something to be desired!

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