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Posted by Anonymous on 10/14/34 11:35
Tony Marston wrote:
>
> > I'm not going to bite on that one any more. Several people have tried to
> > tell you. Go back through this thread. I'm not going to repeat their
> > arguments.
>
> Their arguments don't hold water. Saying that "it is this way becauseit's
> always been this way" is not an argument.
I can agree with that, but...
> > The one exception I will make - when computers can understand verbal
> > instructions (or even written instructions) like people do, then you can
> > compare computer and human languages. Until then, you are talking apples
> > and oranges.
>
> Humans communicate with other humans using human language. Humans
> communicate with computers using a computer language, one that translates
> high-level commands into low-level machine instructions. Human and computer
> languages thereore have a single point of origin, and to say that they are
> like apples and oranges just shows the depth of your ignorance.
.... now you are getting ridiculous. Human languages and computer
languages might share the same origin, but they du not share the same
purpose.
Human languages developed over time. Words changed meanings and
spelling, the grammar changed, too. On top of that humans communicate
differently than machines. We have a lot of words that communicate
vagueness or uncertainty. How much is 'a lot of'?
Computer languages on the other hand were designed from the bottom up
and their only purpose is to eliminate any vagueness in communication so
that a machine that only knows logical states (0 or 1) can follow a set
of instructions in a concise and repeatable way.
That is why computer and human languages are *very* different. If it
were not so nobody would need programmers.
> The first computer languages were case-insensitive, just like human
> languages. Then some UTTER MORON decided to break with a tradition that had
> existed since human language first appeared in written form and insisted
> that the SAME word in a DIFFERENT case now has a DIFFERENT meaning. The
> reason for this was probaby because he was too stupid or too lazy to perform
> case-insensitive searches of variable and function names.
Complete nonsense. The first computer languages were case insensitive
because the first computers only had upper case letters. Human languages
on the other hand never were case insensitive.
> I am not asking that all other languages be changed to suit MY taste, I am
> just asking that PHP not be changed to suit YOUR taste. I have worked for 30
> years with operating systems and compilers which were ALL case-insensitive,
> and I see no advantage in making the change, only disadvantages.
>
Don't make me laugh. I've been into computers for only about 22 years,
but I know computers like C64, VIC20 and PET and know why they were case
insensitive. Simply because they lacked lower case.
Bye!
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