OT: Is there a more English-like Programming language than Transcript?

[Robert Sneidar]

Isn't everyone missing the real point? Computers only "understand"  
one language: The instruction set for the processor family it belongs  
to. But no human (at least no normal human) could program in that  
language and produce anything like useful to the masses in any kind  
of reasonable time frame.

So, (and I want to stress this point as dramatically as I can) ALL  
other language constructs INCLUDING assembly are written so that  
humans (at least normal humans) can write programs that are anything  
like useful to the masses in any kind of reasonable time frame; In  
effect to shield us from the tyranny of the instruction set.

It stands to reason then that the more like a human thinks you can  
make that language, the more likely it is that a human can, and even  
would attempt to, write programs that are anything like useful to the  
masses in any kind of reasonable time frame.

But invariably you give up something with high level languages like  
these, because you are beholden to the one who wrote the language for  
the kinds of things you can tell the computer to do. This is the crux  
of the matter. If we all programmed in assembly, it is unlikely any  
of us would ever produce anything, but if we did we could produce  
almost anything possible that a computer could do. But since we can't  
and won't learn assembly, we depend on the relative simplicity of the  
high level language, at the cost of only being able to do what the  
developer of the high level language gives us the capability to do.

The more "English like" (or should I be global and say "human like")  
the high level language is, the more programmers will even attempt to  
write programs that are anything like useful to the masses in any  
kind of reasonable time frame. Can I see a show of hands of all the  
Revolution programmers that are also proficient enough in C++ to  
produce anything? Okay I see a few hands, how about assembly? Anyone?  
<crickets chirping in the background>...

In answer then to the original question, is there a more English-like  
programming language than Transcript? I would say, probably not. And  
if there was, how much would you have to give up in terms of what it  
was capable of to use it? Transcript (imho) is an amazing balance of  
simplicity and capability unmatched in almost anything else I have seen.

We all have things we would like to see done, or done better, but  
there will always be that. What we should be asking ourselves is how  
much can we do right now with what we have? It's those kind of  
developers that produce things like Galaxy and libDatabase, and even  
Revolution itself that make what everyone else does easier or better.

And I will bet good money that if we (Revolution Developers) could  
double or triple the user base of Revolution in the next 2 or 3  
years, we would see a lot more capabilities roll out of Runtime  
Revolution's labs. Maybe the way to do that is to start producing  
some really cool apps with it so others can see how productive we are  
with it.

Bob Sneidar
IT Manager
Logos Management
Calvary Chapel CM

On Aug 12, 2006, at 10:00 AM, use-revolution-request at lists.runrev.com  
wrote:

> Re: OT: Is there a more English-like Programming language
> 	than	Transcript?