(Still OT) Nationalism, language and monoculture [was Re: Python Worst Practices]

[Sturla Molden]

Steven D'Aprano <steve+comp.lang.python at pearwood.info> wrote:

> Variations in idiom and spelling are a good thing. They open our minds to
> new possibilities, remind us that we aren't all the same, and keep life
> fresh. I remember the first time I realised that when Indians talk about "a
> code" they aren't using "wrong English", they are using a regional
> variation. In British and American English, "code" in the programming
> sense[2] is a mass or uncountable noun, like air[3], milk, music and
> housework. 

I can assure you that in a veterinary sence, Yersey cows will produce a
milk with higher fat content.

In a lingustic sence the "a" is not a count -- that would be the word "one"
--, it is the indefinite article. Here is the difference:

The Enigma machine produced a code that only Alan Turing could break. If I
say the Enigma machine produced one code that only Alan Turing could break,
it means all the other codes could be broken by someone else.

What if I say "this file contains a long Fortran code"? Or what if I say
"this file contains one long Fortran code"? There is a subtile difference
in meaning here. 

Sturla