SCOUG-Programming Mailing List Archives

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Date:	Wed, 6 Aug 2003 17:53:39 PDT7
From:	Peter Skye <pskye@peterskye.com >
Reply-To:	scoug-programming@scoug.com
To:	scoug-programming@scoug.com
Subject:	SCOUG-Programming: Re: Warpstock 2003 Presentation

Content Type: text/plain

blairra@tstonramp.com wrote:
>
> As I see it you are attacking the wrong end. Quit wagging
> the tail. The real benefit is the front end, i.e. the way
> you manage and write the code. The compiler is something
> you should not see, and can be almost anything and changing
> it will not improve programmer productivity very much.

One way to greatly improve programmer productivity would be to eliminate
the programmer.

Everyone who walks this planet can solve problems. Why not let every
one of them write programs?

An excellent programming language would be English (or whatever language
is native to the coder); we currently use English to document a problem,
write the specs, and add comments to the programmers' non-English code.
If English is sufficient, why bother with additional languages?

If 40 years ago there had been an open source community and if one of
their primary objectives had been a parser for the English language,
then today we might be programming in English. (A long-time fascination
of mine is "sentence diagramming".)

On this list we use a "best-fit" communication tool: English.

(I think we discussed this idea a few months back. Did we resolve
anything then?)

> IMO the effort should be in the design of
> the programmer interface and the logic for
> proving the code complete and unambiguous.

I would certainly like some new programmer interfaces. For years I've
wanted a tool that allowed me to graphically create a system flowchart,
then associate each box with an appropriate piece of software (or a
subsystem), and let the tool "compile" my finished system. I like
flowcharts.

As for proving the code, good idea. I have no knowledge at all in this
field. I've seen it mentioned from time to time in various articles but
never defined or explained. Anybody want to enlighten me?
_____

Okay, Lynn, here's my list of things you should talk about:

-- open source
-- code optimization
-- HLL design (including English as one alternative)
-- HLL implementation ("dope vectors" etc)
-- proving the code

What have I missed?

- Peter

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