Letters to the Editor

This letter is associated with the following article:
Read other letters about this article
Words fail us
Programmers talk to computers using precise instructions -- but when they communicate with people, human language betrays them. An excerpt from "Dreaming in Code."
By Scott Rosenberg [2007-02-03]

  • the languages are bad

    This little excerpt hits on one of the biggest problems in programming today---programming languages are horrible. The languages in current use are way closer to how computers "think" than to how humans do (even though they are much better than they used to be).

    It takes years to become profficient in the major languages, and so it is specialists who do the programming. Unfortunately, it is also specialists (of a very different kind) who need to use the completed programs. The specialists of one field (say Doctors, Lawyers, airplane mechanics) have very precise requirements and very precise terminology for what they do, and cannot demonstrate the nuances of their field to other specialists (the programmers). This is why software is always late, buggy, expensive, etc.

    Until we can make programming languages that non-programmer specialists can use to create interesting things in their own field, we are going to have the same old tired complaints about bugs, quality, and geeky programmers.

    -- Andrew
    [Read Andrew's other letters]
    Friday, February 2, 2007 08:48 PM
Read other letters about this article

Letters Help