After today’s class, write at least 250 words summarizing today’s reading by Nofre, Priestley, and Alberts. Think about how this article about programming languages relates to our earlier readings on spoken/written languages.
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Computer programming is a tool for software building, by which you can build programs or software that help you complete a task or solve a problem no matter how simple or complex. The idea of programming languages began when we decided that coding in plain binary would take too much time, as well as make it harder for us to decipher what our code should output. Binary is 0s and 1s where, in plain english, a 0 is off and 1 is on. Writing in just numbers would complicate our life, as mistakes would be easier when dealing with a ālanguageā that isnāt native to us. We then created assembly language, that uses plain english in order to structure our program or software. We run said program through a compiler that essentially translates the code into machine language. The idea of a compiler led to the creation of more languages, including FORTRAN, C++ and Java. These different ālanguagesā have different purposes in terms of their ability to solve a certain problem. This leads to the idea of language as a metaphor, since each individual language is one a programmer has to master separately. But this theory of programming languages being actual languages fall apart when you discuss the difference between a written and spoken language, vs a programmerās language. One canāt change the āset in stoneā nature of a programming language, as that comes from the top, while a spoken language can be used to the liking of the user.
After todayās class reading by Nofre, Priestley, and Alberts I was intrigued by the idea of coding even more as I am not a computer savvy individual. The idea of computers having their own language explains a lot about how we are able to interact with them now days so flawlessly. Binary code of 1ās and 0ās is expressed as its own ālanguageā allowing commands to be sent and transfer from our understanding to its own using what is described as a compiler. The uniqueness of each individual code gives it compiler a position of great importance. Why? Because this complier receives the assembly language, which is words from our English lexicon turns that into code that then the computer can take as a command. This process allows for an easier so the coders do not know longer have to write out or endure the tedious long process of a systematic translation. Thanks to thoughtfulness, a bridge was builded across all computers platforms through language that can then be complied into the appropriate executables. These bridging programs like COBOL and BASIC have made the complicated job of programming for non-programmers way easier to navigate, understand, and make of great use.
After reading Nofre, Priestley, and Albertsā āWhen Technology Became Languageā there is a major conversation around the way the computer programming phenomena has played a pivotal role in the way we use technology today. The real transition with computer programming began in the second half of the 1950s. Nevertheless, programming languages through programmers such as Arthur Burks and George Stibitz stated that this language would become a form of language that would be used so that it can be understood by the computer.
The way that data is compiled is that data needs to be organized into strings and tables. Three of the basic structures that are important for computer programming is language, data structure and algorithm which is necessary in the way we code things in these programs. Programmers write software in a world of technology that is constantly improving. Another important element is machine language because it is the fundamental way in which a computer works. It involves the binary codes that are individualized in to the computer you are trying to program. In this kind of programming some things would be borrowed and some things would be carried over. Next, the component of the assembly language has an abstraction portion where it may use abbreviated words to tell the computer what to do. It can conceptualize for example we can tell the software to add or subtract.
Through programming it runs through a compiler which has a special piece of software where one must assemble language that may have some type of small detail. Lastly, higher level programming such as FORTRAN, COBOL, and C++ just to name a few are codes that need to be programmed are languages that are a pretty big deal in our society. We are living in a society that where we have a computer language and we have a spoken language. Through the writings of Victoria Fromkin, āWhat is Language?ā, language is something that develops organically. Humans have been able to develop language through many different origins from oral language and written language. Another concept discussed in this article was the way computer programming language metaphorically. Computer programming language is totally prescriptive.
Through spoken language we have the ability to constrain the possibility of whatever we can talk about. For example, in Walter Ongsā āWriting Is A Technology That Restructures Thoughtā, Ong questions whether writing has changed the way we think, read and write as he uses the philosophical approach of Plato and Socrates. Writing, according to Socrates, has created a discourse in which writing is manipulated and manufactured so that it can allow others to express their knowledge about a subject. However, this is not always the case as writing is used to challenge those that are literate and wants to continue further research in acquiring more information. Nofre, Priestly and Alberts argue industrial production of different kinds of computing systems bridge computing compatibility that can be compiled into appropriate executable through a given platform. Linguistic forms to incorporate formal logic of computer programming. Computer languages arenāt as robust as spoken or written languages used for communication.
As the article has stated that programmers makes a certain language to communicate to the computer certain demands and it will be the rules that is set to stone that canāt be changed for programming language. Let’s start from the top which is the language that controls the computer is called the āmachine languageā which is mostly in binary codes. Machine languages are individualized language that is unique to different kinds of computers. For example, windows and apple will have different languages to execute a command that only that specific computer is able to do. The next is the Assembly language uses the english letters or signs to have a base for the programer to know what they want it to do and then they will put that command through the compiler to make it into machine language for the computer to be able to read it and able to execute the command. Now we use the higher level of programing that one have to use the compiler to have the translation down just like the assembly language. The article says that a program has to have language, data structure, and algorithms. Computer programmers use the term language as a metaphor; because the language that they input as a command does is not organic since it does not change once it is implemented into the programming. Language used for the program are set into stone and it canāt be changed, which is what language is in the core; language can be changed modified and created. Written, spoken language changes depending on the time and perceived of others. Programming language can not be changed because the framework is the core and if changed the computer will not recognize the command that you are seeking.
In the article, āWhen Technology Became Languageā written by David Nofre, Mark Priestley, and Gerard Alberts, it mentions how the term ālanguageā is used metaphorically in a computer programming language. In the present day all computers and different kinds of digital hardware use computer language in order to be able to execute a āspecificā command and Iāll stress on āspecificā because in computer programming many of the purposes of it is to create a sequence of task that is able to finally achieve the designated goal. In the article, it mentions, John Weber Carr, and he says āThis involves the creation of translators, techniques for using them, and, finally, a theory of such formal translators. ā¦ efficient use.ā talking about how programming language consists of the translation of human language to how the computer could understand it, which in my opinion, when translating human language into a computer language there will be many conditions and rules strengthen the idea of how computer language is not ālanguageā. Later in the article Carr said computer language is, in fact, a language because of their āsimple equivalents of verbs and nouns, tenses and moods.ā. With language being very evolutionary there are many things computers canāt understand unless the people who input these ideas into the computer program itself. All in all, after this article Iām still very torn between accepting and denying that computer programming language is in fact ālanguageā. A computer programming language is still a way we use to communicate and everything that ālanguageā makes ālanguageā. Using these computer languages gives us a better understanding of man and machine creating a different kind of ālanguageā. Though in computer programming there are complications and strict rules in order for a computer to understand, similar to language, computer programming languages evolve.
David Nofre was a PhD student at the Autonomous University of Barcelona from June 2003 to January 2006 in the department of Centre for History of Science Studies. His interests were more in the history of computer science. In this essay, it talked about how the word ālanguageā became used to connect to computer programs. It describes how we nowadays are connected to technology that even language became a part of it; since programming has its definition which relates more to language. It could be articulated in a way that it forms communication; due to the fact itās the involvement of translation from human language to machine language. These concepts of the computer language were compared metaphorically to the human language. This could be harmful to us because the difference between human and technology is that robot for instance are unable to exhibit language like human due because language could be formed from consciousness. Technology could be a double-edged sword because computer language isnāt robust yet human have the traditional composition of a spoken and written language. It gives us human an ability to comprehend and gain knowledge due to our spoken language. To go back to one of the essays we did previously in class by Walter Ongsā āWriting Is A Technology That Restructures Thoughtā we discussed how written language doesnāt have the ability of confessing like spoken language because it misses the most important part, which is emotions in this case.We know that as our technology change, we change as well since we rely to it so much therefore, its influence starts to invade us.
In David Nofre, Mark Priestley, and Gerard Alberts article āWhen Technology Became Languageā they discuss the importance of the word language and its in the computer programming language. When dealing with computer programming, these technical devices use different languages (codes and scripts) in order to communicate the signals and messages with one another. In order for computers for instance to interpret the proper messages they need to the accurate language to do it so. John Weber Carr believes that technology is dependent on us to translate the language to them in order for the computer to understand. With language being very evolutionary there are many things computers canāt understand unless the people who input these ideas into the computer program itself. For instance all the grammar, vocabulary, tenses, proper and improper sentences, everything is a factor to making a language actually a language. Using these computer languages gives us a better understanding of man and machine creating a different kind of ālanguageā. Though in computer programming there are complications and strict rules in order for a computer to understand, similar to language, computer programming languages evolve. They have signals that are fixed with the help of human intelligence which shows again that technology needs human as human needs technology.
Nofre, Priestley, and Albertsā āWhen Technology Became Languageā this reading gives me a better understanding on who technology works in our world. Before anything happens like websites for people to use they need to use coding to create all of these websites and social medias for us to use. Every coding that they use are really different and they need to test out each one of them before making to public for people to use around the world. They want the website to be safe for people to access and that there is nothing wrong with them. Coding became such a big part in the technology world because that how people are building their website and apps for others to use. This also gives us a better understanding on why each website, social media, and etc takes forever to access because they want to have nothing wrong and everything working smoothly.
āWhen Technology Became Language: The Origins of the Linguistic Conception of Computer Programmingā which was written by David Nofre, Mark Priestley, ad Gerard Alberts. These men spoke about how the term language was used and it was also used to describe the different ways in which many people used programming computers in order to do their work. Most of the computer language was used to impute different kinds of computer systems. Programmers would use computing across different platforms to compile a form of excerpts in order to use application programs. Even though computer language isnāt used in a way that is robust (as spoken or may be written), language is used in everyday communication. It explains how computer software as a machine that is independent in its activity.
Summary of Nofre, D., Priestley, M., & Alberts, G. article āWhen Technology became Languageā
This article addresses Languages, Data Structures, and Algorithms in technology and how machine language adapted to more closely resemble human language. To grasp these concepts we must understand three essential layers of computer programming.
Machine Language – fundamental way to tell a computer how to perform operations on data that is also represented by machine language (binary code). It is individualized to the computer that you are writing the code for.
Assembly language – first attempt of abstraction. Used abbreviations to tell the computer what to do. Needs to run through a compiler, a piece of hardware that translates all the assembly language to machine language.
Higher-level programming language – FORTRAN, COBOL, C, C++, C#, BASIC. These languages most closely resemble human languages using familiar terms that the machine recognizes to operate.
Computer programming language – we use the word language metaphorically. A computer language is not spoken or written. It is totally prescriptive.
In the article Nofre et. all chart how the term language began to be used metaphorically to describe how humans program computers to do work. Their argument is that with industrial production of different kinds of computing systems programmers work to bridge programming compatibility across platforms through computer languages that could be compiled into appropriate executables for a given platform. This higher level programming adapted linguistic forms. Computer languages are not as robust as spoken or written languages used for communication, b/c it needs to be written a certain way. It can not be changed without changing the program itself. Itās impact on our own algorithmic thinking widely promoting how we think about tools.
David Nofre, Mark Priestley, Gerard Albertsās āWhen Technology Became Language: The
Origins of the Linguistic Conception of Computer Programmingā gives an interesting perspective
into computer programming. Nofre, Priestley, Alberts bring up interesting views on compatibility
in industrial production of computing systems. As a programmer, I can see Nofre, Priestley and
Albertsās point when it comes to compatibility. Programming languages are developed for many
purposes through different perspectives. Making programs and programming languages compatible
and bridging, the gap between languages is essential for programming. Nofre, Priestley and Alberts
give a good perspective on the metaphors associated with programming languages which influence
the programmers ability to solve problems using the language. For an example, an object-oriented
language such as Java would constrain the programmer to think in a certain way, using classes and
objects that have inherent methods and features to solve problems. The object-oriented paradigm is
an effective methodology for making software but like everything else, it has its affordances and
constraints. The authors also mention how the linguistic nature of programming can be taken for
granted because it was clouded when computers emerged and became more popular in the
mid-1900s. It can be hard to describe what a programming language is to someone who does not
have any idea about programming because of how people view language; it is a little different from
for an example the English language. When asked about programming I usually give a general
description of a software or process that solves a problem using a system of methods or
methodologies. Nofre, Priestley, Alberts book and helps give a perspective into how the science of
programming was categorized and formed and why programming languages are made for specific purposes.
Nofre, Priestley, and Alberts’ article,” When Technology Became Language.” sheds light on how a language system became a part of the computer science industry in the 1950’s.
Three of them argues that different kinds of systems, programmers who work to bridge, across the platform that can compile into an expendable system. Such extent involves robots coded with the piles of computer language. From the basic to complex, from 1 and 0 to the formalized logic or the question of consciousness. By bringing the natural language to the computer program, the coded computer works in a formalized logic. Computer programming languages do not have the traditional composition of a spoken or written language that is used by and for humans to communicate with one another. Language is one of the focal representations around which the teaching of software engineering has been constructed. While programming languages are used to complete tasks, they do not possess the same syntactic, grammatical, or conversational components as a traditional language. Nevertheless, the higher form of programming adapted linguistic forms and patterns to incorporate the formal logic behind computer language. Technology is constantly changing weather the humanity wants it or not, but this technology is not only changing itself it is changing us. We create technology and technology creates all of us.
David Nofre, Mark Priestley, and Gerald Alberts, āWhen Technology Became Language: The Origins of the Linguistic Conception of Computer Programming 1950-1960ā, charted how language began to be used metaphorically to describe how human programmed computers to do work. They argued that when the industrial production of different kinds of computing systems, programmers work to bridge computing compatibility or programming compatibility across platforms through computer languages that can be compiled into appropriate executables for given platforms.