Re: Datasheet-flation?

On 2024-11-26 14:38, Don Y wrote:

On 11/26/2024 6:07 AM, Carlos E.R. wrote:

but if they are programmers they probably use a mixture of English and the local language. Documentation is often in English, and even when not, the most recent version of the docs is in English usually. Unless the software you are using originated in non English country.

>
I've seen software internals that contained a lot of non-english.
Choices of variable names, ("what the hell is a 'puntero'?"),
blocks of commentary to explain the function's purpose, etc.  Some
of these things are easy to just "accept" -- after all, an identifier
is just a collection of characters used as a symbolic reference.
>
But, it has an amazing impact (to the detriment) on comprehension!
Instead of trying to understand the code, you are trying to understand
the actual *words*!
>
It made me wonder how folks with other native tongues can adapt to
the prevalence of English in such uses!  And, how that affects their
code...

>
My own code can be in Spanglish :-p

 But, presumably, in business settings, there are some standards that
firms adopt.  So, english proficiency is an unintended prerequisite?

It depends on the programming language used (its documentation), that of the libraries, and the company culture.
Methinks that at least reading some English is necessary.

 I can see learning to recognize:
 pendant-que( quelque-chose ) {
     blah
}
 as a particular control structure -- treating the words as just
abstract symbols instead of knowing their proper translations.
 But, variable names and function names for imported libraries
seem to NEED a translation to be meaningful.
 I can't imagine an english language developer GUESSING what
"crée(3C)" would mean!

Right.
--
Cheers, Carlos.