Tuesday, February 17, 2009
All computer programming languages are abstractions of Machine Language. All abstractions leak (see the Law of Leaky Abstractions http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/LeakyAbstractions.html) ... they don't 100% remove you from the reality of the thing, they are tools that help you get your work done faster & easier, but when they fail or don't mask the reality completely you have to know how to work without the abstraction... otherwise you are just a tool too.
Natural Language (human speech) contains way too much ambiguity and complexity to be translated by a compiler into Machine Language. The only hope for natural language programming would be (A) use a subset of language with specific rules that removes all ambiguity and most complexity... but that would just be another programming language. (B) or wait for real computer AI (which will probably never happen).
Anyway you look at it, you HAVE to learn to program, to program.
