This post was last modified: May 18, 2017 at 8:09 AM by God.

i often hear code being described as a language, but can code be described in terms of other conventional languages? to what extent does code have grammatical components such as verbs, nouns and adjectives? do different code languages have a phylogeny similar to language families? are they as malleable and dynamic as other languages? i don't know anything about code but i have a keen interest in language in general, and i just wanted to know how similar/dissimilar code is to other spoken and written forms of communication.

code is like a super strict language where if you mess up the grammar your entire paragraph gets erased

its also 100% prescriptive rather than descriptive, and while it can evolve, each evolution is considered a new language

Stuff like "if (condition), then (result), else (other result)" is probably the most language-y aspect of code. But there have been coding languages designed to mimic real languages, you might be interested in reading about some of those on Wikipedia

its not called a language because it's Literally a language but it's just the closest thing we knew of to describe it at the time. Lots of tech shit is practically new but needs some relevant metaphor or whatever so people have an idea about what it is

would it be more accurate to call them "instructions"?

would it be more accurate to call them "instructions"?

What is the difference
'Twixt instructions and language
To a mouse's ears?

Is a mouse capable of understanding either computer programming language or any other language for that matter?

A mouse's silence
Is the sound of the cosmos.
Listen; its loudness...

If the universe is formed in a violent explosion with no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?

If the universe is formed in a violent explosion with no one around to hear it, does it make a sound?

no there's no sound in space b/c you need a medium for the vibrations to move through

Good point, my dude.

good video on this topic

Basically if you have letters and symbols which can be assembled to create interpretable meaning, then it's a language

idk what else it would be called. People can make the argument that code doesn't "look like" a language, but what does that mean? As an english speaker there are tons of languages that just look like squiggles to me. That doesn't mean they're fake languages or something

Basically if you have letters and symbols which can be assembled to create interpretable meaning, then it's a language

idk what else it would be called. People can make the argument that code doesn't "look like" a language, but what does that mean? As an english speaker there are tons of languages that just look like squiggles to me. That doesn't mean they're fake languages or something

Yes we get it you're a robot you can speak computer languages

are dog barks considered a language?

woof woof

I just insulted your mother.

woof woof

I just insulted your mother.

You're a real son of a bitch you know that?

well that's just stating the obvious