{"id":188,"date":"2007-08-12T03:48:00","date_gmt":"2007-08-12T03:48:00","guid":{"rendered":"\/lisa\/post\/2007\/08\/12\/Language-Arts.aspx"},"modified":"2007-08-12T03:48:00","modified_gmt":"2007-08-12T03:48:00","slug":"language-arts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/spacefold.com\/lisa\/2007\/08\/12\/language-arts\/","title":{"rendered":"Language Arts"},"content":{"rendered":"

\nOn one of the RS Reporting forums somebody asked me to address this:<\/a>\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n\tSay, you might be a good one to answer this, since you've worked
\n\tin both types of syntax…\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tI've often scratched my head wondering about the curly
\n\tbracket\/semicolon thing. I've had occasion to muck around in C# a bit here and
\n\tthere, and general developer productivity sure feels stifled over there.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tVFP and VB, by contrast, are quick-and-easy syntaxes to work
\n\twith—write a line of code, press Enter, move on. It's just plain fast. Easy to
\n\tread and follow, too.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat does all that other stuff gain anybody, anyway?\n\t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nAnd I answered as follows, but told him I would repost here — because it isn't really a forum-appropriate discussion.  Also I have no intention of getting involved in a flame war on one of the language forums <g>.\n<\/p>\n

\n

\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tColin is a better person to answer this than me — I'm basically
\n\tindifferent to syntax.  Syntax is just what gets you there, it is not what
\n\tdifferentiates languages or productivity in languages.  And I don't distinguish
\n\tbetween computer languages and other languages in this respect.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tProductivity is defined as "the most
\n\tefficient and best<\/strong> way to get the thing I
\n\tneed<\/strong>".\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tIf I need something, and the seller speaks only Japanese, I should
\n\ttry to communicate in Japanese.  If I can get it from somebody who speaks
\n\tEnglish, I'll probably go there first, since English is my first language, but
\n\tif not I better learn Japanese quick <g>.  If there are two sellers
\n\tbut I find out the Japanese seller has a better product, I'm still going to take
\n\tthe theoretically "longer route" to get what I want — because speed isn't the
\n\tonly criterion. \n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tWhat's more, if I need to communicate in Japanese, I need to think
\n\tabout the whole gestalt; it's not just syntax\/vocab\/grammar.  IOW, people's
\n\tthought patterns and habits are formed by language, so I'd better take that into
\n\taccount when negotiating.  That's part of the price I'm willing to pay for an
\n\tuncommon product, or a product of higher quality.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tFYI I don't have a single Visual Studio solution that doesn't have
\n\tprojects in multiple languages… and that's one of the best things about .NET
\n\tIMHO.\n\t<\/p>\n

\n\tYou could say that this discussion has a partial relevance to the
\n\tReporting world, since Reporting a nexus for many different types of
\n\tlanguages… and frankly it really bugs me when people freak out because the
\n\tcustom code environment is VB or some example is C# only.  But, in general,
\n\twe should take this to a different forum <s>  — I'm answering you here
\n\tbut let's not continue, okay?\n\t<\/p>\n

\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

\nSo, Mr. Bowman<\/a>… the conversation ball is in your court…<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On one of the RS Reporting forums somebody asked me to address this: Say, you might be a good one to answer this, since you've worked in both types of syntax… I've often scratched my head wondering about the curly bracket\/semicolon thing. I've had occasion to muck around in C# a bit here and there,Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-188","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-techspeak","category-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacefold.com\/lisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacefold.com\/lisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacefold.com\/lisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacefold.com\/lisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacefold.com\/lisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=188"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/spacefold.com\/lisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/188\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/spacefold.com\/lisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=188"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacefold.com\/lisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=188"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/spacefold.com\/lisa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=188"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}