> Well, I speak english, and I found this compiler at www.osmosian.com
> that actually lets me use regular english sentences to program. I
> didn't have to learn any cryptic syntax or weird combinations of
> puncuation. It's just plain english.
Which reminds me of the eight law of computer programming:
Laws of Computer Programming
8. Make it possible for programmers to write programs in English,
and you will find that programmers cannot write in English.
-- SIGPLAN Notices, Vol 2 No 2
Torben Mogensen
[But wait, it gets better. -John]
> Since this is the 21st century, shouldn't we be able to talk to our
> computers in our own language?
For those of you with a slightly less ambitious aim, I am collecting
information and links for an English lint like tool (ie, a grammar
checker).
Suggestions welcome.
I'm sure it's cool, but are *you* sure you just "found this compiler
at www.osmosian.com"? The WHOIS information for osmosian.com lists
"Dan Rzeppa" as the administrative and technical contact.
Louis
Nice, very nice.
Lucky for me my anti-virus protection prevented the virus infected
sample to execute.
Hans, http://www.hansotten.com
[Oops. I don't run Windows, so I didn't look at it. -John]
Yes, very, very intriguing. I think I may well buy it just to see it own
compilers source code !
> Lucky for me my anti-virus protection prevented the virus infected
> sample to execute.
I am relatively sure it has no virus or trojan. It scans clean using McAfee.
It does however want internet access to download some pictures it uses.
Aaron
It is pretty cool... for a toy application though... not so interesting
in terms of compiler theory.
The site claims to have a program which can draw anything you
describe. When I was connected to the internet, it worked like a
charm, drawing pictures of George Bush, for example. Unfortunately,
when I *wasn't* connected to the internet, it would only draw strings
of the form "Could not connect to
http://images.google.com/images?q=roses"
- Oliver
Interesting. My anti-virus program (Symantec AntiVirus with the
latest updates) didn't find anything bad; either I had a false
negative or you had a false positive.
I'm certainly not going to try it, though; the claim by the site's
registered owner that he "found" the site is enough to destroy any
possible trust I might have had.
--
Keith Thompson (The_Other_Keith) ks...@mib.org <http://www.ghoti.net/~kst>
San Diego Supercomputer Center <*> <http://users.sdsc.edu/~kst>
We must do something. This is something. Therefore, we must do this.
Don't be mean, Louis, he may just be amnesic.
--
__Pascal Bourguignon__ http://www.informatimago.com/
"You can tell the Lisp programmers. They have pockets full of punch
cards with close parentheses on them." --> http://tinyurl.com/8ubpf
Yes, very, very intriguing.
I bought a copy of CAL-3036 and its a "minor work of genius", its a great
"toy" (BTW I call Java and Java VM a toy).
CAL-3036 "understands" a limited subset of English, you have to know
how to say things and you have to know how to think within its
"mindset". You have to be a programmer to be able to program it as it
does not understand most normal English statements, having said that I
would have loved it as a teenager. It would be a great present for
kids who are learning to program.
As a "scripting" language within applications it would be really good
for power users.
The compiler is "Meta" and is written in itself, everything needed to
use and port it are includeed within it. All its tools are written in
its "English". It can manipulate and communicate with the binary level
and with Windows API.
> Lucky for me my anti-virus protection prevented the virus infected
> sample to execute.
I am 100% sure it has no virus or trojan. It scans clean using McAfee.
It does however want internet access to download some pictures it uses from
Google Images.
Aaron
> Since this is the 21st century, shouldn't we be able to talk to our
> computers in our own language?
> Well, I speak english, and I found this compiler at www.osmosian.com
> that actually lets me use regular english sentences to program. I
> didn't have to learn any cryptic syntax or weird combinations of
> puncuation. It's just plain english.
One should be aware of that the historical development of mathematics
is going the opposite direction, going from using natural language to
symbols, because it is more expressive to the human.
For example, in the beginning, one might have said "add the first unknown
quantity to the second unknown quantity", but after awhile, symbols "x",
"+", and "y" are introduced, resulting in the more succinct, "x + y".
So, one can go ahead with mathematics, and simply write out in words
the mathematical language, and then design a grammar for that. For
example, "f(x)" would be "the function f applied to x", and so on. But
very simple formulas would quickly become unparsable by humans.
Also, when inventing new notation, one should consider this quote by Mark
Twain, about English spelling reform:
For example, in Year 1 that useless letter "c" would be dropped
to be replased either by "k" or "s", and likewise "x" would no longer
be part of the alphabet. The only kase in which "c" would be retained
would be the "ch" formation, which will be dealt with later. Year 2
might reform "w" spelling, so that "which" and "one" would take the
same konsonant, wile Year 3 might well abolish "y" replasing it with
"i" and Iear 4 might fiks the "g/j" anomali wonse and for all.
Jenerally, then, the improvement would kontinue iear bai iear
with Iear 5 doing awai with useless double konsonants, and Iears 6-12
or so modifaiing vowlz and the rimeining voist and unvoist konsonants.
Bai Iear 15 or sou, it wud fainali bi posibl tu meik ius ov thi
ridandant letez "c", "y" and "x" -- bai now jast a memori in the maindz
ov ould doderez -- tu riplais "ch", "sh", and "th" rispektivli.
Fainali, xen, aafte sam 20 iers ov orxogrefkl riform, wi wud
hev a lojikl, kohirnt speling in ius xrewawt xe Ingliy-spiking werld.
--Mark Twain
--
Hans Aberg
Keith,
> Interesting. My anti-virus program (Symantec AntiVirus with the
> latest updates) didn't find anything bad; either I had a false
> negative or you had a false positive.
Kaspersky gives a possible virus alert, too. That, coupled with the
overall appearance of the web site (a couple of graphics instead of
text, the FAQ, the "description" about Plain English Programming, the
fact that if offers absolutely no evidence of its claims, description,
information, whatever, just an opportunity to pay with your credit
card but it doesn't even seem to tell you how much), makes me want to
stay clear of it. Either a Trojan or a hoax, but it can't be
serious. Probably a rare situation when we must ask our esteemed
moderator to act... :-)
Bye,
Gábor
-------------------------------------------------------------------
DEÁK JAHN, Gábor -- Budapest, Hungary
E-mail: d...@tramontana.co.hu
[I must admit that the whole thing looks rather fishy, but it does say
the price is $100. -John]
According to your post on comp.programming you bought it three days
before making this post.
>
> > Lucky for me my anti-virus protection prevented the virus infected
> > sample to execute.
>
> I am relatively sure it has no virus or trojan. It scans clean using McAfee.
> It does however want internet access to download some pictures it uses.
This grass looks just like astroturf.
>> It is pretty cool... for a toy application...
We don't understand what you mean by "toy". It compiles itself. We
wrote the editor in it. We wrote the page-layout program in it, then
wrote the documentation in the page-layout program. Then we
spell-checked it. We drew the pictures for our website in it. We wrote
our JAVASCRIPT and our CGI applications in it.
>> Not so interesting in terms of compiler theory.
Are you quite sure?
>> When I was connected to the internet, it worked like a
charm, drawing pictures of George Bush, for example. Unfortunately,
when I *wasn't* connected to the internet...
The "Cal Monet" draws like a person draws. It "remembers" or "sees" an
image, then renders an original "dab, dab, dab" work of art based on
the image. How does it "remember" and "see"? By looking in it's memory,
which, in this case, is stored on various computers around the world.
The problem with "English" is meaning. The "Definitive Guide to
AppleScript" begins with a discussion of just how confusing English can
be as a programming language.
Sure, I want an "easy to read" programming language, but that doesn't
mean it should be like English. English is often mangled -- I admit as a
college English teacher.
A computer language should never be ambiguous. English thrives on its
ambiguity. Sorry, but programming needs rules and limits.
- Scott
[My understanding was that the hope for Cobol was not that it would be
any easier to write than other languages, but that it would be easier
for non-experts to read. One can debate how well they met that
goal. -John]
[snip]
>[My understanding was that the hope for Cobol was not that it would be
>any easier to write than other languages, but that it would be easier
>for non-experts to read. One can debate how well they met that
>goal. -John]
Reading is one thing. Understanding is another.
Sincerely,
Gene Wirchenko
[The hierarchically structured data was great. The verbose arithmetic less
so. -John]