Larry Wall's comments on Ruby

Denys Usynin goes on to say:

>  after all, isn't the whole purpose of OO programming to let the person 
>think as a human instead of trying to think as a machine?

“the tools we are trying to use and the language or notation
we are using to express or record our thoughts are the major
factors determining what we can think or express at all!”

              -- Edsger W. Dykstra
			     ACM Turing Award Lecture, 1972

/\ndy

Denys Usynin goes on to say:

>  after all, isn't the whole purpose of OO programming to let the

person

>think as a human instead of trying to think as a machine?

“the tools we are trying to use and the language or notation
we are using to express or record our thoughts are the major
factors determining what we can think or express at all!”

              -- Edsger W. Dykstra
     ACM Turing Award Lecture, 1972

“Language shapes the way we think and determines
what we can think about.”
Benjamin Whorf

“Those who doubt the importance of a convenient notation
should try writing a LISP interpreter in COBOL or doing
long division with Roman numerals.”
Hal Fulton

:slight_smile:
Hal

···

----- Original Message -----
From: “Andrew Hunt” andy@toolshed.com
To: “ruby-talk ML” ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org
Sent: Friday, September 06, 2002 2:54 PM
Subject: Re: Larry Wall’s comments on Ruby

Well, linguists these days don’t think too much of his work. Much of
it relied on generalizations about indigenous cultures that he never
actually observed. Though his mentor, Sapir, whose conclusions were more
moderate, is still respected.

···

On Sat, Sep 07, 2002 at 07:38:54AM +0900, Hal E. Fulton wrote:

“Language shapes the way we think and determines
what we can think about.”
Benjamin Whorf


Matt Gushee
Englewood, Colorado, USA
mgushee@havenrock.com

Still a bright person with fascinating ideas. He just
went overboard.

I admire him because his real field was chemical engineering,
yet he managed to make a stir in the linguistic community.
Granted many of his ideas were wrong. He was just an amateur,
after all.

It’s when I reflect on his status as a self-taught amateur
that I respect him again.

Hal

···

----- Original Message -----
From: “Matt Gushee” mgushee@havenrock.com
To: “ruby-talk ML” ruby-talk@ruby-lang.org
Sent: Friday, September 06, 2002 5:47 PM
Subject: Re: Larry Wall’s comments on Ruby

On Sat, Sep 07, 2002 at 07:38:54AM +0900, Hal E. Fulton wrote:

“Language shapes the way we think and determines
what we can think about.”
Benjamin Whorf

Well, linguists these days don’t think too much of his work. Much of
it relied on generalizations about indigenous cultures that he never
actually observed. Though his mentor, Sapir, whose conclusions were more
moderate, is still respected.

Yet, I wonder how many of those who harshly judge his work were originally
influenced most by him to become linguists. I love people who can color
outside the lines, and do it well.

···

On Friday 06 September 2002 05:47 pm, Matt Gushee wrote:

On Sat, Sep 07, 2002 at 07:38:54AM +0900, Hal E. Fulton wrote:

“Language shapes the way we think and determines
what we can think about.”
Benjamin Whorf

Well, linguists these days don’t think too much of his work. Much of
it relied on generalizations about indigenous cultures that he never
actually observed. Though his mentor, Sapir, whose conclusions were more
moderate, is still respected.