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=-1.9 required=5.0 tests=BAYES_00 autolearn=ham autolearn_force=no version=3.4.4 X-Google-Language: ENGLISH,ASCII-7-bit X-Google-Thread: f4fd2,626a0a064b320310 X-Google-Attributes: gidf4fd2,public X-Google-Thread: 103376,ea8ea502d35ca2ce X-Google-Attributes: gid103376,public X-Google-ArrivalTime: 2001-05-10 13:27:03 PST Newsgroups: comp.lang.ada,comp.lang.lisp Subject: Re: Beginner's Language? From: ebfg01@bluewin.ch (Marie-No�lle Baechler) References: <9cukad$nn68@news-dxb> <9d6b6e$1bt$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <87snihxiwc.fsf@frown.here> <9dbi83$sji$1@nh.pace.co.uk> <3AFACCA0.303A79AF@baesystems.com> Organization: Your Company Message-ID: User-Agent: Xnews/03.12.21 NNTP-Posting-Host: 62.202.35.146 Date: 10 May 2001 22:15:03 +0200 X-Trace: 10 May 2001 22:15:03 +0200, 62.202.35.146 X-Complaints-To: abuse@bluewin.ch Path: newsfeed.google.com!sn-xit-03!supernews.com!news-feed.riddles.org.uk!news.litech.org!news.ems.psu.edu!news.cis.ohio-state.edu!news.maxwell.syr.edu!npeer.kpnqwest.net!EU.net!blackbush.xlink.net!rz.uni-karlsruhe.de!news.uni-stuttgart.de!news.belwue.de!news.tesion.net!newsfeed-zh.ip-plus.net!news.ip-plus.net!news.bluewin.ch Xref: newsfeed.google.com comp.lang.ada:7503 comp.lang.lisp:9988 Date: 2001-05-10T22:15:03+02:00 List-Id: >There's also a strong cultural element to be considered beyond the >strict grammar of the language. A language that stays close to natural >language (at least for the anglophone part of the population), which >encourages meaningful variable names and cleanly structured, readable, >well commented code is going to be far easier for someone with limited >knowledge to understand (or maintain). A CS/SE course that teaches good >coding practise rather than just coding is going to produce people >who'll be both more useful to their employers and gain the course a good >reputation For elementary algorithms, as the one you give, this may be enough. But most of the algorithms we use are much more complex and understanding them may require a strong mathematical background. I strongly doubt that mimicking "natural" language will make easier to understand the query optimizer of a relational database or a truth maintainance system. Marie-Noelle Baechler