Number of languages known [was Re: Python is readable] - somewhat OT

[rusi]

On Apr 3, 9:15 pm, Nathan Rice <nathan.alexander.r... at gmail.com>
wrote:
> On Tue, Apr 3, 2012 at 9:51 AM, rusi <rustompm... at gmail.com> wrote:
> > On Apr 3, 5:39 pm, Nathan Rice <nathan.alexander.r... at gmail.com>
> > wrote:
>
> >> Don't think "underlying", instead think "canonical".
>
> >> Ultimately, the answers to your questions exist in the world for you
> >> to see.  How does a surgeon describe a surgical procedure?  How does a
> >> chef describe a recipe?  How does a carpenter describe the process of
> >> building cabinets?  Aside from specific words, they all use natural
> >> language, and it works just fine.
>
> > A carpenter describes his carpentry-process in English
> > A CSist describes his programming-process in English (at least all my
> > CS books are in English)
>
> > A carpenter uses his tools -- screwdriver, saw, planer --to do
> > carpentry
> > A programmer uses his tools to to programming -- one of which is
> > called 'programming language'
>
> > Doing programming without programming languages is like using toenails
> > to tighten screws
>
> I would argue that the computer is the tool, not the language.

"Computer science is as much about computers as astronomy is about
telescopes" -- E W Dijkstra

Here are some other attempted corrections of the misnomer "computer
science":
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computer_science#Name_of_the_field