Re: Any research putting c above ada?

[adam@irvine.com (Adam Beneschan)]

afn03257@freenet2.afn.org (Daniel P Hudson) writes:
 >amd001@its.maynick.com.au (Andrew Dunstan) wrote:
 >>Matthew Givens (NKSW39B@prodigy.com) wrote:
 >
 >>This is a worrying statement. If you are a skilled programmer, you
 >>would pick up languages like a sponge and not be worried about small
 >
 >That's like saying if you are a skilled speaker you should be able
 >to pick up languages [German, Russian, Greek] like a sponge.
 >
 >>things like syntax. If you think you are highly proficient in C but
 >>only moderately skilled in Ada, either you have not done enough Ada or
 >>you are not thinking about things at an appropriate level ... most of
 >>your thought should be at a language independent level.
 >
 >Well, can you pick up things is say Korean or Vietnamese right now?
 >So then are you not thinking about things at an appropriate level?

Sorry, but this analogy doesn't fly.  You just can't compare human
languages to computer languages, for a number of reasons:

(1) Human language is not learned by studying it in a classroom and
    poring over the concepts behind it.  Human language is learned
    from hearing it from the time one is born (possibly before) and
    learning to imitate it. 

(2) Experts have been finding out that there is "preprogrammed
    software" in our brains that enables us to learn to understand and
    speak human languages.  (Newsweek's current special issue on child
    care has a fascinating article about this.)  You can't say the
    same about computer languages.

(3) There seem to be neurological barriers to picking up new languages
    easily after a certain age.  I've heard it said a number of times
    that if you want your child to be multilingual, you should start
    using the second language before such-and-such an age (six?),
    because after that new languages get harder to learn.  Also, I've
    been told that if one doesn't learn certain vowels or consonants
    by a certain age, one will *never* be able to pronounce those
    sounds quite correctly.  Thus, you and I will probably never be
    able to speak Xhosa (which has clicking sounds as some of its
    consonants) and have everything sound right, although we could
    learn it well enough to make ourselves understood.

                                -- Adam