Java Glossary : creole

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creole

The Language Instinct

0-06-097651-9

Steven Pinker

In his book, The Language Instinct, Steven Pinker points out several remarkable things which may impact future computer language design.

The human brain is hardwired with grammar processing wetware. It has to be configured for a particular human language early in life.
If a group of people are forced together from different linguistic backgrounds they will create a very simplified language called a pidgin.
However, the generation of children speaking pidgin will within one generation enrich the pidgin with a full fledged grammar and vocabulary making it a true language in its own right. A language created this way is called a creole.

I wonder if with our supposedly simple artificial computer languages, we inadvertently bypass our hardwired syntax parsers. No wonder we make so many programming mistakes. We should be aiming for languages more like natural spoken languages that don't depend so much on fussy punctuation. Natural spoken languages evolve with new vocabulary and short-forms introduced on-the-fly.

Bali

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