I’ve observed a connection between lovers of computer languages, and lovers of human languages.

If you are interested in coding or linguistics, are you interested in both or just one of of the two? If only one interests you, which one and why? If both interest you, do they seem related to one another?

  • HorseFD@lemmy.buzz
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    1 year ago

    That’s interesting, they’re two of my biggest interests. I wonder if this is true for a lot of other people.

  • Kissaki@feddit.de
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    1 year ago

    Both. They’re not particularly related or similar. But through naming, comments, and docs they’re connected for a common means.

    I enjoy formulating in a concise, precise way. I like wordplay. I’m interested in different human languages. I’m familiar with several “computer” languages.

    Languages encode meaning. Data formats, specifications and descriptions formalize rules. Human languages have rules too, but they are much more dynamic, diffuse and changing.

  • Lvxferre@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I’m interested in Linguistics. Not deeply interested on the sets of instructions used by computers, although I know a bit of bash (does it count?).

    I think that “programming languages” is at most an overused, overextended metaphor. It’s on the same level as saying that a language is “alive” - sure, you can get a few interesting outcomes from the metaphor, but you need to remember that metaphors become mushy once pulled and pushed hard enough.

  • thegiddystitcher@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I code in a few languages and I’ve always wanted to know more than one “human” language but efforts in that area have more or less consistently failed (exception being Esperanto because that’s easy, but since hardly anyone speaks it it’s not exactly useful).

    Despite my interest in both I doubt there’s much of a correlation when you look at programmers (or polyglots) as a group, though. For all we call all of these things “languages” there’s a pretty big distinction and difference in complexity and approach between the computer and human ones, it’s a whole different hobby.

    I’d compare coding more to other hobbies that involve making things. I knit a jumper, I develop a video game…scratches same itch.

    Or possibly problem-solving hobbies. I work out how to adjust a sewing pattern to fit, I solve a tricksy sudoku…again same itch.

  • KTVX94@wirebase.org
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    1 year ago

    Both. I don’t think they’re particularly related to me. One is more like a puzzle, the other one interests me more in terms of finding meaning and common origins in words from different languages. I also enjoy getting pronunciation right in foreign languages.

  • Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz
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    1 year ago

    I write code in a bunch of different languages without breaking a sweat, but the human spoken language has always been a mystery to me. I can barely handle one language, I’ve tried learning two others and failed miserably except for a very small handful of words.

    • Joe_0237@lemmy.mlOP
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      1 year ago

      I love linguistics and the study of language, but i struggle exactly as you. Programming languages are a lot simpler to learn.

      • Shdwdrgn@mander.xyz
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        1 year ago

        Especially these days when so many of them are all based on C. I started off back in the day with basic because pretty much every computer came with that, but now you have various programming languages, scripting languages, things to write web pages, things to build little tiny computers… it’s crazy.

  • Valravn@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I’m kinda interested in both, but mostly coding because linguistics often involves humans

  • Jakylla@sh.itjust.works
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    1 year ago

    Also both for me ! (even subscribed to programmer_humor and also linguistics_humor here on Lemmy)

    Story time:
    When I was at school, I hated languages (as a native French, English was a PAIN for me), but already was programming for fun outside school. Since I finished school, I grown interest in linguistics as well. I think for me it’s more because manga and animes, and because I am curious, so I wanted to understand all the little parts in texts… So I learned Japanse, then improved my English… then went curious about chinese… Spanish… And at this point, I don’t even learn new languages (too much time), I only searched for differences, construction and all; and that is where I discovered Linguistics basically.

    Difference between human & computer language:
    I heard that part of the brain that process Human language and Computer language is the same, that may be the reason, idk

    They seems to be really different though, you don’t “Speak” or write a computer program like you write a text or a poem, it’s a totally different thinking process. The same way, you never read code from top to bottom left to right (reason why unindented code is AWFUL to read), it’s more about looking around what’s going on, to understand what the whole is doing. Sentences are way less dependent on the context (and WAYYYYY less dependent on what follows) to understand them.

    But in a way, with time, we lean patterns, and know to recognize them (both in human and computer language), that may be the reason why they are both on the same part of the brain

    • smstnitc@lemmy2.addictmud.org
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      1 year ago

      I think in code, and compose most of my projects in my head before I lay hands on a keyboard. It’s weird to most people when I describe it, but to me it feels like an expression, and it needs to get out, like some might write a poem that comes to them maybe. But don’t expect me to learn a human language, I will struggle.

    • Lvxferre@lemmy.ml
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      1 year ago

      They seems to be really different though, you don’t “Speak” or write a computer program like you write a text or a poem, it’s a totally different thinking process.

      For one, you’re using a complex system of communication, where the meaning of each unit meaning changes, depending on context and the agreement between speaker and hearer. The system is used for phatic, performatic, epistemic, deontic statements, plus more; and it’s usually tied into utterances and discourse in a higher level. And it’s such a mess that would make any spaghetti code look cleaner in comparison.

      For the other, you’re delivering a set of instructions. It behaves far more like maths over strictly performative statements than like the above. If you say x = 1, then x is 1. And if you ask if x == 1, you’ll get a true/false output, not any sort of implicature or “it depends on context”.

  • Moonguide@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I wish. I speak spanish natively and english to a level I will codeswitch, very inconvenient among the older generation. I also learnt italian up to a B1 (and pass as italian, if the amount of people asking where from italy I’m from is any indication) and have a passing knowledge of german, enough to grasp the meaning of anything written down, as long as it’s not too complex.

    Coding wise? Unless you consider html, css, and rudimentary knowledge of javascript coding, I’m not computer fluent.

  • Joe_0237@lemmy.mlOP
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    1 year ago

    I myself am interested in both, I decided to specialize in programming, but did take a linguistics class back in highschool, in the class we constructed a fantasy language, and i still wave and occasionally update the documentation.

    Coding languages and constructed human languages are bothan designed system of communication, its just that the targets are different. Coding languages (usually) unambiguously define a means of communicating structure and function, whereas human languages elvolve or are designed to communicate experience, something a lot more … nebulous.

  • BrenoMartins@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    I have interest in both types, but it is not like they are correlated. Computer languages are more logical and human languages are more abstract.

  • multicolorKnight@lemmy.ml
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    1 year ago

    Both! I have traveled internationally and always try to learn enough of the local language to at least show some respect for people’s cultures. If I were to pursue an advanced degree and didn’t care about money, it would be in linguistics. I also use or have used a lot of computer languages, so maybe that’s it, it’s not just programming, it’s collecting more ways to express yourself.

  • LoudWaterHombre@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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    1 year ago

    From ASM till Python I know a godless unhealthy amount of languages, design pattern, principles etc but I suck at languages, sometimes I can’t even speak my mother tounge fluent.