On Mon, Apr 12, 2010 at 09:30:50AM -0700, David MacQuigg wrote:
We consider pseudocode "self-explanatory" to those who already know the syntax of a similar language. But it is not so, any more than mousing and icons is "intuitive" for those who have never seen them.
That is emminently reasonable but I'm not sure it is true. My children seemed to pick up using a mouse without any instruction IIRC. Geometry, motion & pictures seem to tap a very primitive part of our brains...much deeper than the symbology of algebra and pseudocode. I wonder if there are methods of communication that don't need much explanation because that is how are brains are naturally wired.
It's interesting to speculate whether there will ever be another major improvement in programming, a step beyond Python, or if Python will simply incorporate any good ideas that come along (as it did with our @ syntax). I would bet on the latter.
Well that is exciting for me as I know Python and don't want to learn a new language every 3 months. cs