[~ot] why is programming so fun?

[Simen Kjaeraas]

On Sat, 07 Jun 2008 23:40:15 +0200, BCS <ao at pathlink.com> wrote:

> Reply to Yigal,
>
>> Thanks :) I learned here in Israel. English is taught as a required
>> second language in Israel since we are a small country and that allows
>> us to communicate with other nations.
>> I doubt any foreigner that wants to do business here will learn
>> Hebrew,
>> therefore Knowing English is a required skill.
>> the slight difference is probably due to different cultural thought
>> patterns (I think in Hebrew...), maybe I'm yet another prove to the
>> Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis <G>
>
> Cool. In one way that might give you an advantage over many people; when  
> you converse in English you are forced to construct a concept in both  
> languages. To do that I suspect that you will need to consider it more  
> carefully than many people do.


I'm from Norway, and I speak a lot of english with my friends, as most
programming books, articles, and whatnot we read, are in english, and
there's little reason (except to exercise my language muscles) to
translate when we all speak english pretty well. This use of english,
and the fact 90% of what I read is in english (books, articles on the
web, text in games, etc), has lead to english being a language I can
think in. No translation to/from norwegian, no need to construct
concepts in both languages, it's just there. The same thing goes for
programming languages, I think. "Real programmers write FORTRAN in
any language" accurately describes what happens when you don't know
how to program effectively in a new language.

> I'm about to run into a similar situation; I am going to be writing a  
> program where it must be implemented in 2 different languages. As a  
> result I will need to be more aware of what is actually happening than I  
> otherwise would.

I've been doing something similar with assignments at school. We have a
C++ beginner's course, and I've already taken a similar one elsewhere.
So, I first write the assignment in C++, to satisfy my teacher. Then I
translate it to assembly, python, D, or whatever other language I feel
like at the moment. I think it's a good way to increase your knowledge
of other languages, and really, it shouldn't take much more time.

-- Simen