From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 X-Spam-Checker-Version: SpamAssassin 3.4.4 (2020-01-24) on polar.synack.me X-Spam-Level: X-Spam-Status: No, score=-0.3 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00, REPLYTO_WITHOUT_TO_CC autolearn=no autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: 1014db,7a278735334db126 X-Google-Attributes: gid1014db,public X-Google-Thread: 109fba,7a278735334db126 X-Google-Attributes: gid109fba,public X-Google-Thread: f5d71,7a278735334db126 X-Google-Attributes: gidf5d71,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,7a278735334db126 X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2004-03-04 08:40:10 PST Path: archiver1.google.com!news2.google.com!newsfeed2.dallas1.level3.net!news.level3.com!priapus.visi.com!orange.octanews.net!news-out.visi.com!petbe.visi.com!news.octanews.net!upp1.onvoy!msc1.onvoy!onvoy.com!tethys.csu.net!newshub.sdsu.edu!elnk-nf2-pas!newsfeed.earthlink.net!stamper.news.pas.earthlink.net!newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net.POSTED!01cc3b7c!not-for-mail Reply-To: "Richard Riehle" From: "Richard Riehle" Newsgroups: comp.lang.c++,comp.lang.c,comp.lang.java,comp.lang.ada References: Subject: Re: Announcing new scripting/prototyping language X-Priority: 3 X-MSMail-Priority: Normal X-Newsreader: Microsoft Outlook Express 6.00.2800.1106 X-MimeOLE: Produced By Microsoft MimeOLE V6.00.2800.1106 Message-ID: Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2004 16:40:10 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 66.81.219.173 X-Complaints-To: abuse@earthlink.net X-Trace: newsread1.news.pas.earthlink.net 1078418410 66.81.219.173 (Thu, 04 Mar 2004 08:40:10 PST) NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 04 Mar 2004 08:40:10 PST Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Xref: archiver1.google.com comp.lang.c++:21962 comp.lang.c:25101 comp.lang.java:3339 comp.lang.ada:6056 Date: 2004-03-04T16:40:10+00:00 List-Id: "Georg Bauhaus" wrote in message news:c00cof$lrv$2@a1-hrz.uni-duisburg.de... > > Possible... "readable", then "easy to read", then "possible > to read". Some of Chinese ideographic content is easy to remember if > you learn to distinguish the pictures. Doesn't mean that Chinese > writing is easy to understand, e.g. because of context dependence. > Now what does "read" mean? > Actually, there is a system to Chinese characters. While it is true that the meaning of some characters is lost even to many educated Chinese, that is no different than the use of some obscure word on some English readers. Consider the word, omphaloskepsis. A native speaker of Greek will get a sense of the meaning of the word, but may not know how it is used in English. Chinese characters are made up of a small set of elementary [brush] strokes. These are combined into a comprehensible set (about 300) of radicals. The radicals, in turn, are used to compose the more complicated characters. In some ways, written Chinese is more object-oriented languages built over a discrete alphabet. To read a newspaper in Chinese, one needs to know about 1800 to 2000 characters. This is well within the range of the vocabulary of people using languages built over an alphabet. An educated Chinese will know a lot more than 2000 characters. As to readability of C versus other languages, my experience, in the classroom, is that students shown a long program in C and the same program in Ada, will nearly always find the Ada program easier to read when they have never seen either language before. Richard Riehle