On Thursday, 23 January 2014 at 20:11:15 UTC, Nick Sabalausky
wrote:
On 1/23/2014 5:24 AM, Chris wrote:
I find it extremely interesting how the human
mind (not just language) is reflected in programming languages.
They way I usually see it is that the human mind HAS to be
reflected in programming languages as that's the whole point.
We already knew how to program computers back with manual
switches, Altair-style. Every programming tool since then (and
*including* Altair-style) has fundamentally been about bridging
the gap between the way humans work and the way computers work.
That naturally requires that the tool (ex. programming
language) reflects a lot about the core nature of both humans
and computers, because the language's whole job is to interface
with both.
Yes, there is no other way. Humans cannot create anything that is
not based on the human mind. However, it is interesting to see
how it is done. Man against machine (or rather man in machine),
how to make a computer work the way we work. Even the simplest
things like
x++;
x += 5;
are fascinating. It is already reflected in the development of
writing systems, long before there was any talk of computers. And
it is also interesting to see how different human ways of
tackling problems are enshrined in programming languages. E.g.
the ever patronizing Python vs C style (";"). One could write a
book about it.
