Syntax - Why so CareMad?
Mahesh Paolini-Subramanya - Syntax Matters - What Programmers can learn from the World of Linguistics from Erlang Solutions on Vimeo.
Syntax tends to get people remarkably upset in the programing world (semicolons anyone?), with virtually any introductory talk on Erlang (Haskell, Clojure, whatever) invariably containing a self-deprecatory quote about its Syntax. The thing people tend to forget is that this isn't new! Syntax has been upsetting hominids since the first australopithecus said "Urghk" instead of "Oook", and got righteously thumped for it, and has continued to the present day (check out "French is better than" on Teh Googles).
Whats worse, people tend to mistake Syntax for Semantics, resulting in both chaos (and torture. Seriously).
Whats worse, people tend to mistake Syntax for Semantics, resulting in both chaos (and torture. Seriously).
I gave a ranttalk on this topic at CodeMesh a wee bit back. The video is above, and the slides below.
Remember kids, Syntax and Semantics are different!!!
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