Wow, GitHub is not handling that RTL text well. (Or FF on Android is to blame, can’t compare at the moment)
English is not my first language and I have recently thought a lot about the impact of language in other fields. Programming is one, but to be fair the number of keywords is very limited and not too hard to learn. We had programming in school and while we already had English as well, I don’t think it’s a hard requirement.
Science is also very heavily impacted. The primary language is English, so if you are good at physics and suck at language learning - well tough luck because you can’t do science without knowing English first. The number of people who’s scientific progress and subsequent beneficial impact on the world is stunted, just because they did not learn English…
Your programming language will probably not take off, but I like the idea behind it.
I’m not the creator fyi.
I don’t think it was meant to be actually used, it’s more an experiment, art piece and passion project
dope, but why?
قلب is a programming language exploring the role of human culture in coding. Code is written entirely in Arabic, highlighting cultural biases of computer science and challenging the assumptions we make about programming.
It is an exploration of the impact of human culture on computer science, the role of tradition in software engineering, and the connection between natural and computer language
Excel would like to know your location
Jokes aside, alternative command words for different languages make it harder, not easier, to teach programming. I run some excel labs at the start of my course, and trying to troubleshoot students using their own devices set to their mother tongue is pain.
So putting aside the fact that this language is not supposed to be a practical endeavor, I don’t think that issue would apply. قلب does not have alternative, localized names, it only exists in Arabic script
True, but I think the principle still holds.
When I talk about a “print”, “if”, “for” or “while” I am universally understood by the majority of coders. This means, someone with those concepts can use any logic flow making use of those terms with a minimum of learning.
However, if I speak of “gable”, “gyr” or “wabbajack”, then trouble begins, for now I have no tutorials nor guides. Let us say these are not merely localisations, but new concepts, then the question comes of completeness and how it is proved.
In essence, one either recreates Babel, where no two people can understand one another, and collaboration quickly slips away. Or, one builds a tower upon the sand, that has no logical foundation to anchor it, this rendering it worse than useless to those who learn it.
That I believe is part of the point, to explore the unconsidered privilege we have as an english speaker, or any langauge like english, or even any language with latin letters
Ah, an artistic expression saying “you must learn our language, see how it feels for you to subvert your culture to do something needful”?
Hardly an avant-garde notion today, but in 2010 it may well have been.
I can appreciate the beauty of what was created, though I suspect it failed to move people in the way it was intended. To me, it seems an illogical step backwards, rather than a meaningful stride forwards, as I see it from a pedagogical perspective. Others may disagree, but such is art.
love this. fantastic work, my friend.
To be clear, I’m not the creator, just sharing it
a great share. thanks.
