[HN Gopher] How to Write Computer Programs (2015) [pdf]
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       How to Write Computer Programs (2015) [pdf]
        
       Author : secwang
       Score  : 90 points
       Date   : 2024-04-28 11:00 UTC (2 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.dyalog.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.dyalog.com)
        
       | Joker_vD wrote:
       | > When we become proficient in describing the result in terms of
       | the argument, using only the present tense of the verb _to be_ ,
       | we could experiment with writing the description in a different
       | language (French, Latin, Esperanto, ...) before transliterating
       | it into code.
       | 
       | This is going to be a funny exercise for languages that _don 't_
       | have the forms of the verb _to be_ for the present tense.
        
         | 082349872349872 wrote:
         | (that wasn't his point, but) Just elide the copula, _mutatis
         | mutandis_.
         | 
         | For instance, in BELTABOL[0], an is-y language in _lang belta_
         | [1], statements are (insofar as possible) in grammatical belter
         | creole, which elides present tense _to be_. The missing copula
         | is in square brackets in the translation below:
         | Da gcd im fong max,walowda(wok)       gcd, it [is] out of
         | max,many(walk)
         | 
         | Lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ezU-F028krU
         | 
         | [0] https://github.com/demaere-oiie/beltabol
         | 
         | [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Belter_Creole
         | 
         |  _Xalte ere gova da Cant!_
        
         | aleph_minus_one wrote:
         | > This is going to be a funny exercise for languages that don't
         | have the forms of the verb to be for the present tense.
         | 
         | You mean Russian?
        
       | commandlinefan wrote:
       | > One significant downside of is-y programs is that in general
       | they run slower than corresponding do-y programs.
       | 
       | I wonder about this. It seems like the ultimate in declarative
       | programming is prompt engineering: just describe the problem and
       | let the computer decide how to break it down. As of now, humans
       | can still find more efficient ways to break down problems than
       | computers can.
        
         | malcolmgreaves wrote:
         | A non-deterministic autocomplete system != declarative
         | programming: there isn't any level of precision nor specificity
         | that comes from writing prompts to give to an LLM.
         | 
         | If you're interested in learning more about declarative
         | programming, check out functional programming and logic
         | programming.
        
       | mehulashah wrote:
       | Declarative programming is quite elegant, but it is not the same
       | as prompting. I recently had an argument with someone who claimed
       | our declarative code for running analyses over documents was
       | "hard coded". In our product, our approach is to use a functional
       | language approach for analyzing documents. He was an expert in
       | NLP and said that his users required the ability to instruct the
       | system in natural language - English. It still was weird that
       | someone call our declarative program - "hard coded". My, how
       | times have changed.
        
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       (page generated 2024-04-30 23:02 UTC)