Comment by 🐝 undefined

Kinda ashamed to say that I didn't recognize which essay it was from the quotes alone. Anyways, as somebody born much later than when this was published, most of these issues seem positively quaint compared to our actual problems. Not that they aren't valid, they are. As an aside, this essay gets misinterpreted so much that there should really be a version with all the relevant details about what exactly each of the points means (or at least what we think Dijksta meant).

Jun 24 · 6 months ago

1 Later Comment

You can just tell a LLM what to program and it will do it. I think that kind of obsoletes this.

Original Post

Projects promoting programming in "natural language" are intrinsically doomed to fail. The use of anthropomorphic terminology when dealing with computing systems is a symptom of professional immaturity. Besides a mathematical inclination, an exceptionally good mastery of one's native tongue is the most vital asset of a competent programmer. The tools we use have a profound (and devious!) influence on our thinking habits, and, therefore, on our thinking abilities. (Edsger W.Dijkstra, 18 June...