Codex: The Impact of English on Programming Languages
summary
Argues English shapes both the symbols and grammar of mainstream languages, demonstrating with a regex phone-number example, a COBOL-like Englishy snippet, an APL FizzBuzz, and a translated JavaScript-to-Latin FizzBuzz that compiles conceptually. Shows how Chinese-style single-character symbols and Latin-style inflections would change code, names the axis monographemic vs polygraphemic and positional vs inflective, and claims the surprising insight that inflections exist partly because they make parsing easier for humans and compilers.
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chapters (10)
- 0:00Introduction and context
- 3:32Defining language
- 5:26Symbols and history
- 10:33Symbols in code
- 17:09Monographemic vs polygraphemic
- 22:03Positional and inflective grammar
- 25:41Programming through a different lens
- 27:22APL analysis
- 30:40Programming in Latin
- 42:42Conclusion and Q&A
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