English and Computer Languages Till Meister
English and Computer Languages
Till Meister
Table of Contents
• Tech • History • Informa<on Society – The Web
• Alterna<ves?
Tech
Computer
computer |kəmˈpyoōtər| noun an electronic device for storing and processing data, typically in binary form, according to instruc<ons given to it in a variable program. • a person who makes calcula<ons, esp. with a calcula<ng machine.
New Oxford American Dic<onary
• A (modern) computer uses electrical or electro-‐magne<c informa<on to store and process informa<on (data)
• The informa<on have binary character: either the light bulb is on or off
• On the basic level the computer operates with machine code and binary informa<on
• A computer programming language can be seen as the interface between the human user and their natural language and the computer.
Conclusions / Implica<ons
• Computers don’t care about human language • They operate with electric signals and mathema<c opera<ons
• The choice of language on which a computer programming language is based therefore depends on user/programmer and social constella<ons
History
• Konrad Zuse invented the first programmable computer. The Z3 was introduced in 1941.
• The programming language he developed was called Plankalkül
• Plankalkül used German terms for variables
Plankalkül – A German Programming Language
• Program – Rechenplan • Data – Angaben • Algorithm – Vorschri_
• Boolean (i.e. binary) variables – Ja-‐Nein-‐Werte
Plankalkül – Modern Implementa<ons
Rojas FU Berlin Wikipedia
Conclusions / Implica<ons
• There has been at least one computer language described in a language other than English – German based Plankalkül
• Even this language is nowadays implemented using English lexicon terms
• The syntax remains mathema<c / logical
Informa<on Society – The Web
hep://www.uni-‐bielefeld.de -‐ beyond green and white
hep://www.uni-‐bielefeld.de -‐ beyond green and white
• hep: hypertext transfer protocol • www: world wide web • html: hypertext markup language • xhtml: extensible … • xsl : extensible stylesheet language • href: hypertext reference • rel: rela<onship • CSS: cascading style sheets • src: source code • png: portable network graphics • rss: really simple syndica<on • blog: web log
…and the Chinese?
Even the French!
Conclusions / Implica<ons
• The internet is based on the hypertext transfer protocol – hep
• Hep and the html code use English lexicon • Even websites represented in other graphemes than English use English based html for their code.
• In order to produc<vely create websites knowledge of html and thus of the involved English words is necessary
Alterna<ves?
Alterna<ves
• There is a number of non-‐English based computer programming languages
• English based computer languages are much more successful, e.g. VisualBasic, C/C#, PEARL, Pascal, Java, html
• There are aeempts to detach the connec<on between natural and computer programming language: Agol 68
Agol 68
Conclusions / Implica<ons
• There are computer languages based on languages other than English or independent of a natural language
• The majority of programming languages as well as the most successful ones are based on English at present
Sources • Breymann, U. (72003): C++: Einführung und Professionelle Programmierung. Munich: Hanser. • Czauderna, K.H. (1979): Konrad Zuse: Der Weg zu seinem Computer Z3. Munich: Oldenbourg.
• Ifrah, G. (2001): A Universal History of compuFng. NY: Wiley.
• Rojas, R. et.al.: „Konrad Zuses Plankalkül: Seine Genese und eine Moderne Implemen<erung.“ hep://www.zib.de/zuse/Inhalt/Programme/Plankalkuel/Genese/Genese/Genese.htm last visited 05/13/10
• hep://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
– ALGOL_68
– Computer
– Html
– Non-‐English-‐based_programming_languages
– Plankalkül
– Programming_Language
– Timeline_of_programming_languages last visited 05/13/10
• Zuse, K. (1976): The Plankalkül. St. Augus<n: Ges. für Mathema<k und Datenverarbeitung.