-Caveat Lector-
What happens when a people with language A conquer people with language B?
When the Normans defeated the Saxons in 1066, the language of the rulers
suddenly became Norman. The language of the ruled was Saxon. What can we
say about the language of the rulers and the ruled in America today? What
happens when we encounter an absurdity beyond Orwell; when Americans are
not even free to talk about what they are not supposed to talk about lest
they violate the taboos of Bongo Bongo South; when a coward and liar like
Buchanan tells us about his latest propaganda piece on PBS without telling
us what American Culture is really about, ie a culture in which people are
not free to speak their minds. Any guesses as to who the conquering people
A might be vs. the conquered people B, in the American case? Yet there is
an even bigger issue in the language of conquerors vs. conquered ahead.
C-and-SEE is an analysis of one of the high level computer languages,
called C. However, by translating C into the vernacular (Everyday Language
or EL) we can learn about language in general. Join us. You might even
find it therapeutic given that much of psychological therapy has to do
with verbalizing and making conscious that which is at a preconscious and
unconscious level. EL is a powerful language. It is a system of
intelligence in itself and it can wrap itself around any problem in the
physical or social sciences so far. But some day, in the lifetimes of most
people on this list, we will arrive at a point in history at which robo
sapiens will have powers of language, including human language, which
outstrip those of homo sapiens. Does it really make any difference when we
arrive at a point in history at which machines can out-talk us?
Take a look at the history of human-human relations and consider
what happened when people A were in a position of talking down to people
B. Humans being what they are, that relationship of verbal-political
dominance does not last forever. But what about machine-human
verbal-political dominance? Can the citizens stay in control of the
machines? Learning the language of the machines might be a good way to go
about maintaining the political upper hand.
How does "I, Robot" end? Do we know for sure that in the I, Robot era
(ca. 2050) it is the robots or the humans who are really in charge of the
planet?
POC
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 25 Feb 2002 10:24:30 -0800 (PST)
From: Franklin Wayne Poley <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED],
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: [C-and-SEE] Lexical Elements: Data, Operators, Operations
++++++++++++ What will the post-humanist, post-capitalist "culture-x"
be like when DARPA's Semantic Web is completed? +++++++++++++++++++++
So far it looks to me like understanding C (or any computer language) is a
matter of understanding how to write out/represent/code "lexical
elements" called "data" and build more lexical elements around them so
that they will perform as you wish. Operators are one category of lexical
element which serve this purpose and I don't think it is amiss to say
that operators expand into "operations" though the term "operator" is
technical and "operation" is vernacular (EL). As we build up data
categories with operators and operations, we are applying what is often
called "syntax". Allen Wyatt writes in his text, "Writing Your First
Computer Program" (IDG Books, 2000) that syntax is "...nothing but a fancy
way to describe how computer programming instructions or commands should
be put together." (p.9). We could also say that syntax has to do with
how data is put together, using operators and operations. So far it looks
to me like knowing how data, operators and operations go together,
including those "lexical units" I started to list yesterday which are not
part of the actual code, tells us what we need to know about the C
language. That doesn't tell us about the computer's hardware but it covers
the software side very well.
"Understanding how data is used in a program is vital to effective
programming. I cannot stress this point enough." (Wyatt p.59). Moreover,
"They (operators), in effect, allow you to process or change your data to
any form you desire." However, I think operators in the narrow sense as
those symbols listed in the SAMS Crib Sheet, are not sufficient to cover
all of the ways data is processed so the term "operation" may be more
correct and useful.
While Wyatt focuses on the Visual BASIC language, the SAMS and Hansen
texts say much the same thing. Chapter 3 in either text is mainly the
"Data Chapter" and Chapter 4 is the "Operators Chapter". SAMS says,
"Computer programs usually work with different types of data and need to
store the values being used. These values can be numbers or
characters." (p.36). Hansen says, "The ways in which a computer stores
data of various types are mirrored rather closely by the ways in which C
represents data." (p.27).
Chapter 4 of SAMS begins with, "C programs consist of statements, and most
statements are composed of expressions and operators". (p.54). Chapter 4
of Hansen begins with, "Having learned about variables and constants, two
of the lexical elements of C programs, you will now learn how to combine
variables and constants with operators in order to create
expressions." (p.61). The "variables and constants" are data
categories. The data values which go in those data categories can be
"numbers or characters" (SAMS, p. 36).
All part of that "mine field" of homonyms I referred to at the
outset. Mind you, I don't see it as something which needs correcting. I
don't see any better way to deal with it than to stay mindful of the
correct definitions for our terms and the fact that there is a continual
intermingling of technical homonyms with EL (the vernacular). From my
encounters with the law profession, much the same thing happens there.
Law and language are both part of everyday life so we might expect that
the technical terms of the professionals will intermingle with the terms
of the layman in both fields.
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