Will this be a reality in the future?

[Joe Harry]

Will there be a programming language where programming is like writing an essay? I.e., I write a paragraph in simple English for a task which when compiled does what I want.

[Ayub ali khan]

Yes why not. Anything is possible !!! Long live JAVA !!!

[Ulf Dittmer]

I don't know about simple, but you might want to take a look at Cobol. It comes closer to being written text than any other language I've seen.

[Joe Harry]

I'm just meaning something like this, say I have to loop through 10 times and print something on the screen. For this I just write in my own english "loop through this 10 times and print on the screen..." something like this...

[Nitesh Kant]

[I had this typed since sometime, so it may be a little offtrack]
Even if it happens, would you like to maintain/debug such a code? Considering the nuances that english language has, you can think of the headache it can become.
Moreover, i think learning english language completely is tougher than learning JAVA or other language. Imagine a situation where in you are reading a code(uhmm essay) of a guy who knows very good english!!!
[ November 28, 2007: Message edited by: Nitesh Kant ]

[Peter Rooke]

Ever heard of the term CandyGrammar?

candygrammar

A programming-language grammar that is mostly syntactic sugar; the term is also a play on `candygram'. COBOL, Apple's Hypertalk language, and a lot of the so-called `4GL' database languages share this property. The usual intent of such designs is that they be as English-like as possible, on the theory that they will then be easier for unskilled people to program. This intention comes to grief on the reality that syntax isn't what makes programming hard; it's the mental effort and organization required to specify an algorithm precisely that costs. Thus the invariable result is that `candygrammar' languages are just as difficult to program in as terser ones, and far more painful for the experienced hacker.

[Frank Silbermann]

Originally posted by Peter Rooke:
Ever heard of the term CandyGrammar?

But that's not what we're talking about. He's asking about a language in which you write in imprecise, ambiguous English, and the compiler figures out what the writer meant to ask for (or better yet, what the programmer should have intended for the computer to do.

[Bert Bates]

This reminds me of an old email entitled:

"Proposed Additions to the PDP-11 Instruction Set"

It included such candidates as:

BBW - branch both ways
BEW - branch either way
D0CF - divide by 0 then catch fire

and of course,

DMNS - do what I mean, not what I say

[George Harris]

I don't understand why anyone would ever want to do anything using the Engligh language. Most programmers I know hate documenting because writing in English bites. I worked for an AI company that was working with 'Natural Language' and it was the most difficult thing to use. Not only did you have to use perfect english, the type most English professors wouldn't use, it also required a very verbose description to get anything to work.

In terms of programming, I believe in the KISS principle. But English (and most natural languages) are more of the KISS MY A**.

[Gregg Bolinger]

I don't understand why anyone would ever want to do anything using the Engligh language. Most programmers I know hate documenting because writing in English bites.

I rather like English. I am a bit biased though being a (North) American and English being my primary language.

[Marc Peabody]

Originally posted by Jothi Shankar Kumar Sankararaj:
"loop through this 10 times and print on the screen..." something like this...

There would still have to be some rigid standards on how the English should be structured. As everyone is saying, human language is fuzzy. Half the time we don't understand each other, so why should we expect a computer to be any different? And even if the computer happens to understand what you intended, who's to say that the next human to read your "code" interprets it correctly? Ever have someone explain something to you but you weren't sure of what was really intended?

For example:
A: "Go two more lights and then turn left."
B: "Wait, do you mean I should turn left at the second light?"
A: "No, take the first left after the light."

If you're simply looking for a way to code more like English, you should Google for stuff on Domain Specific Languages (DSLs), which are fairly popular with scripting languages. For instance, your loop statement could be written similar to 10.times{ print "something" } in some languages.

[Cameron Wallace McKenzie]

Well, personally speaking, I've always felt my code reads like a Shakespearian play. Most of my co-horts agree; of course, I think that just means they don't understand it.

-Cameron

[Sachin Patil]

Dont you think BPEL is taking us that way?

[Joe Harry]

By the way, what is BPEL?

[Ulf Dittmer]

Dont you think BPEL is taking us that way?

Being XML, and not linear in its flow, I don't think any non-trivial BPEL process is easily readable.

By the way, what is BPEL?

BPEL and Java introduction

[ankur rathi]

Originally posted by Jothi Shankar Kumar Sankararaj:
something like this...

That would be a good feature.