human language vs. machine languages - are they comparable?

[Sir Fredrick]

<< The point the school has isn't whether a computer language is comparable to a human language, which i don't believe it is.
The point of the school requirment for language is for somesort of human-human interaction to be enhanced. The fact that computer languages are used between humans and computers and not humans and humans is the very reason they should not be able to satisfy the schools language requirment. >>



How does learning a second language enhance human-human interaction? Most people will speak to eachother in only one language,even if they know multiple languages.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

<<

<< The point the school has isn't whether a computer language is comparable to a human language, which i don't believe it is. The point of the school requirment for language is for somesort of human-human interaction to be enhanced. The fact that computer languages are used between humans and computers and not humans and humans is the very reason they should not be able to satisfy the schools language requirment. >>

How does learning a second language enhance human-human interaction? Most people will speak to eachother in only one language,even if they know multiple languages. >>



How does knowing multiple computer languages enhance your marketability? After all most computer programs use one language at a time.

 

[Rakkis]

-- Sir Fredrick said: --
How does learning a second language enhance human-human interaction? Most people will speak to eachother in only one language,even if they know multiple languages.

Right... and that is the point of making kids learn a second language, so that they know more than one language so that they can relate to others. When's the last time you used a for-loop to order food at a restaurant? or a switch to discuss someone else's culture?

 

[yellowplastic]

<< The fact that computer languages are used between humans and computers and not humans and humans is the very reason they should not be able to satisfy the schools language requirment. >>



This is false.

Computer science researchers and open source programmers regularly communicate with one another online or over IRC and use pseudocode or C++ to communicate their ideas regarding computer programs.

Can you imagine how tough it would be describe Bubble Sort or recursion using plain old English? And how easy it is to describe using pseudocode or C++?

Computer languages can be used for communication of ideas between people, just as any other language can.

 

[Sir Fredrick]

<< How does knowing multiple computer languages enhance your marketability? After all most computer programs use one language at a time. >>



One at a time, yes...one per company, no way. I spent several weeks translating code from Matlab to C++ for my company, and I've also had to set up some Perl scripts.

Knowing multiple human languages has its benefits, certainly...but so does knowing multiple high level programming languages.

 

[Sir Fredrick]

<< Right... and that is the point of making kids learn a second language, so that they know more than one language so that they can relate to others. When's the last time you used a for-loop to order food at a restaurant? or a switch to discuss someone else's culture? >>



I've used those things to communicate ideas to people, and in fact they could be used to order food at a restaraunt, if more of them had that automated ordering process (I've only ever seen one that did, but it was cool...sped things up and eliminated errors due to misunderstandings).

When was the last time you ordered your food in french?

I agree that it's useful to know a second human language. It is also useful to know a computer language, and I would argue that I can enhance human-human relations by using a computer language more so than I can by using a second language.
I could write a program that translates from english to french, for example, or set up a telecommunications system, or write a program that helps streamline the ordering process at restaurants, or or a program that helps your car automatically mantain a safe distance from the car in front of it, etc.

 

[Jerboy]

IMO, they're not comparable. In human language there are many synonyms that we use depending on situations and we communicate and form a conversation using words.

Isn't C++ and other program laugnages made to use human language just there to make a life a bit easier for the programmers? Somehow MS-DOS comes to my mind.

It appears like a human language but it's simply translating what you type in so one mistake, it won't work.

In place of saying, I want to copy thisfile.doc from A drive to C drive, I wanna copy this file.doc from floppy to main HD etc all means the samething and works well in human language.

In MS-DOS you have to say copy A:\thisfile.doc C:\ (I hope I got this right.. ) EXACTLY. Otherwise it will just say "invalid command"

 

[Sir Fredrick]

Chinese proverb: If you don't know what you're talking about...shut up.
(ok, so I made that up)