Path: csiph.com!v102.xanadu-bbs.net!xanadu-bbs.net!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!feeder01.blueworldhosting.com!peer01.iad.highwinds-media.com!news.highwinds-media.com!feed-me.highwinds-media.com!border1.nntp.dca1.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!news.iecc.com!.POSTED!nerds-end From: Tomasz Kowaltowski Newsgroups: comp.compilers Subject: Re: Writing A Plain English Compiler Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 09:13:40 -0200 Organization: Compilers Central Lines: 16 Sender: news@iecc.com Approved: comp.compilers@iecc.com Message-ID: <14-11-023@comp.compilers> References: <14-11-021@comp.compilers> NNTP-Posting-Host: news.iecc.com Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8 X-Trace: miucha.iecc.com 1415653174 46901 2001:470:1f07:1126:0:676f:7373:6970 (10 Nov 2014 20:59:34 GMT) X-Complaints-To: abuse@iecc.com NNTP-Posting-Date: Mon, 10 Nov 2014 20:59:34 +0000 (UTC) Keywords: design, history Posted-Date: 10 Nov 2014 15:59:34 EST X-submission-address: compilers@iecc.com X-moderator-address: compilers-request@iecc.com X-FAQ-and-archives: http://compilers.iecc.com X-Received-Bytes: 1631 X-Received-Body-CRC: 1679303762 Xref: csiph.com comp.compilers:1431 This discussion reminds me of the history of mathematical notation. The notation we use today was adopted mainly in the 17th century and contributed to rapid development of mathematics. Before that equations were usually written in "Plain Latin" or "Plain Arabic", or ""Plain Whatever". I don't think anybody would recommend going back ;-). Tomasz On Mon, Nov 10, 2014 at 8:21 AM, wrote: > [Even COBOL has COMPUTE A=B+C+D as an alternative to > ADD B TO C TO D GIVING D (or something like that.) > English isn't a very good way to describe algorithms > once they get at all complicated. -John]