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?

Lvxferre
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5•2Y

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 ā€œprogramming languagesā€ is at most an overused, overextended metaphor. It’s on the same level as saying that a language is ā€œaliveā€ - 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.

HorseFD
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5•2Y

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

Yep this is me. I love learning languages and I’m a software dev for my job.

Hmm same here, but im interested in human language etymology and theory. Im really bad at using ā€˜human’ languages :\

@Valravn@lemmy.ml
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3•2Y

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

I like both! But it never occurred to me that there’s correlation

Do programming languages count? If so, I’m a polyglot.

KTVX94
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2•2Y

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.

writeblankspace
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1•2Y

this is me

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.

@Kissaki@feddit.de
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2•
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2Y

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 ā€œcomputerā€ 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.

I have an interest in both, but have mainly focused on human language. I speak Danish (and by extension a fair bit of Norwegian and Swedish and English, and some level of reading in German, Spanish and French, and have studied Latin, Greek, Hebrew and Akkadian academically.

I’m considering getting back into coding for a career change now, haven’t really used it much since my teens. I used ASP, PHP and SQL.

I have a logic approach to both, I think, but they’re also quite different.

Cambionn
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1•2Y

I’m interested in linguistics in a linguistic way. Languages tell something about a culture. For examply by what subjects have many words and which don’t. Or how seperated ranks in society are by the amount of (used) formality forms. The level of directness might corolate to the level of pragmatism. What foreign influence there is can be partly seen by loanwords and writing symbols. Etc. Etc.

But computer languages are hardly linguistic, most of them are just English in a specific syntax. I love computers, but they interest me in a technical way. Even the best AI relies on switches turning off and on, yes and no’s, 1’s and 0’s. It’s black and white logical mathmatics. In the end, programming languages are little more than ā€œthe creator thought this was a good way to handle which switches should go on and offā€, and you just use what’s most practical for your use-case. That is, quantum computers aside, but even those are similar in that really. Just more complex.

writeblankspace
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1•2Y

I’m interested in both! I program in Python, and I’m trying to get more into linguistics.

Computer languages are just so straight to the point. If something goes wrong, it’s your fault for not specifying. It’s beautiful that way. I also love the problem-solving involved.

Human language is the complete opposite and I love it for that too. It’s full of ambiguity, and so many words seem related to each other - but with their own little nuances. If you say a certain word, it may have synonyms but most synonyms can’t give that exact meaning that a certain word gives. There are also soo many undertones you can say with a certain word. Once, my friend accidentally said ā€˜denigration’ instead of ā€˜desegregation’ (in context to black people and white people) which I found really interesting considering ā€˜denigration’ was derived from the Latin word for ā€˜black’ (the n-word) and meant ā€˜to get rid of the bad things’, therefore associating black with bad.

Do they seem related? I dunno. I just love patterns and I love how languages convey meaning, whether computer or human.

writeblankspace
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1•2Y

Whelp I think I just started waxing poetic

I enjoy learning and using both. What I like most I think is seeing the wide range of solutions that people and cultures have come up with for communicating abstract ideas (both spoken and programming languages). I’m a native English speaker and I remember how my mind was blown when I learned that Chinese characters convey meaning rather than sounds, so that speakers of different dialects could still understand each other’s writing, even if they couldn’t understand each other’s speech. Similar feeling when I studied functional programming after using nothing but procedural/OOP for most of my life.

I code in a few languages and I’ve always wanted to know more than one ā€œhumanā€ 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 ā€œlanguagesā€ 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.

Jakylla
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2Y

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 ā€œSpeakā€ 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

Lvxferre
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1•2Y

They seems to be really different though, you don’t ā€œSpeakā€ 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 ā€œit depends on contextā€.

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.

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