Re: Must programming languages be English ?

[Vaughan McAlley <vaughan@...>]

On 13 April 2013 11:17, Oliver Schneider <lua@windirstat.info> wrote:

> Certainly one doesn't have to know the language in order to learn a
> handful of keywords.

Indeed, I have a thorough knowledge of Italian musical terms, and
though they have occasionally been helpful when in Italy, it doesn’t
mean my Italian language skills are beyond the very basic.

Computer language grammar is so rigid compared to natural English that
I would say that there is not much of an advantage for English
speakers, at least as far as grammar is concerned. Programming
concepts are foreign to all non-programmers (and ‘metatable’ is as
meaningless to a native English-speaking non-programmer as it would be
to a Tibetan monk non-programmer).

That said, Lua seems to be the only language I’ve used where I don’t
have to pretty much relearn the grammar again from scratch after a
long break from using it.

Vaughan