LL-L "Grammar" 2011.03.21 (03) [EN]

Mon Mar 21 17:17:51 UTC 2011

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L O W L A N D S - L - 21 March - Volume 03
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From: "dealangeam" <atdelange at iburst.co.za>
Subject: LL-L "Grammar" [EN]

Beste Laaglanders.

All the discussions so far on the morphological complexity/simplicity of
languages referred to natural languages. But what about artificial languages
such as computer languages. Can we learn something of them to deepen our
understanding of the evolution/devolution in natural languages?

I will try to give a short account. Because of the brevity, some confusion
may arise. I have deliberately kept out the grouping of bits (switching
units with values 0-off or 1-on) into chuncks like 4, 8, 16, 32 and now even
64. It is enough to say that it makes use of parallel (team) units, thus
speading up processing.

A computer consists of the following essential modules:

(1) hardware: PS (power supply), mother board, CPU (central processing
unit), BIOS (basic input output system), RAM (random access memory), HD
(hard disk), screen plus video card, keyboard, mouse and printer.

All these modules have a history of evolution. For example, the first fixed
CPU ever was the ENIAC (1946). It needed a big room to fit into. Modern giga
CPUs fit in the palm of a hand and can compute billions more of instructions
per second than the ENIAC.

(2) Software: OS (operating system), programming languages, dedicated
programs (like word processor, spread sheet, graphical design, image
enhancing) and protection programs (like firewall, antivirus and recovery),

In 1966 i had my first experience of main frame computers (IBM). There were
not any programs available. The language i used was an ancient Fortran tuned
by additional assembly commands. The hardware did not have a screen or
keyboard. Communication between me and the computer was by means of a
lengthy punch tape.

Looking at all these essential modules, it is surprising that the
programming languages is merely a speck in the whole picture. Thinking of
the complex neurological system, language proficiency is merely a small
region in the cortex of te brain. But it has a paramount influence on the
motoric nerves and thus how a person willfully acts.

There are four levels of computer languages (and possibly a fifth in the
making):

(1) Machine language:

It is used to command the CPU (Central Processing Unit) to perform digital
functions (arithmetic, logic). Its input and output is a continuous string
of 0's and 1's like  1101000111010111000101011001100.....  Every kind of CPU
needed its own machine language because of a different physical
architecture.

Deciphering the machine code is like finding the structure in terms of atoms
of an extremely complex enzyme like polymerase. I had such an experience by
learning how to comprehend Spanish writings with merely a dictionary and
grammar book at hand. There was no Spanish speaking person in the large town
where i lived. It took me 5 months to translate a short letter from South
America. Computer programmers feel even worse when they have to unravel
machine code. So the next higher level was inevitable.

Here is an example for anyone knowing very little of computers. Think of
this contribution. I change all capital letters into small letters, leave
out all spaces between words, all full stops ending sentences and all line
breakings between paragraphs. The result is a very long, continuous string a
Latin letters. Try to figure out what i wanted to communicate.

(2) assembler languages:

The long string of 0's and 1's is grouped into many assemble units. They are
either data units (like simple nouns) or procedural units (like verbs). They
get identified by three letter acronyms like PUT, GET, STO, etc. They form
the vocabulary of the language. Any program is then constructed by stringing
these assembly units together according to a defined syntax.  The syntax
form the grammar of the language. Avoiding superficial and inefficient units
becomes important so that streamlining is required. It is simplification!

The identification of assemble units (“words”) does not make the 0's and 1's
in a unit obsolete, but only more manageable for the human programmer. The
complexity of the 01's string is merely shifted tacitly into the background.
But it is still very difficult to make holistic sense what the program can
and will do.

Again the next higher level was inevitable. Creating words like data (nouns)
and procedures (verbs) was not enough

Here is an example for language boffins. It is like telling something using
only simple nouns and verbs with no other words qualifying them. I used this
technique to communicate with communities in wilderness regions which had
only a rudiment knowledge of Afrikaans or English, but a complex knowledge
of their mother tongue.

(3) Syntax languages:

Whereas assembler languages make use of machine language in the background,
a syntax language makes use of an assembler language in the background. It
is almost as if a biological morphogenesis (in Goethe’s sense) is taking
place. Examples of such program languages are Cobol, C, Basic and Pascal.
Getting rid of redundancy, inefficiency and contradictions get even more
important since they increase like pests This simplify the increased
complexity somewhat..

(4) Category languages:

Examples of such languages are C++, C#, Java and probably Perl. There is not
a general agreement on the name for these languages. They are often called
objected orientated languages or task orientated languages. The general idea
is to make the units even more complex than in 3rd level languages to meet
the superior intellectual needs of programmers and improve on the speed of
programming. Much of the syntactical units and all of the assembly units and
machine units are pushed into the background. Mediocre programmers have many
difficulties with these languages since they cannot match the advanced
specifications of such a language.

Their task is very much like someone speaking a creole language trying to
render something in a complex morphological language such as Latin. It is a
herculean task. Furthermore, when not using Latin daily, one quickly lose
proficiency in using it.

(5) almost natural languages:

The idea here is to speak a natural language such that the computer can
translate it into an artificial language conforming to the machine
requirements. Some advancements have been made, but by far not enough to
make such a language functionally available. The simple reason is that a
computer cannot learn creatively by itself. Creative learning requires
spontaneity with freedom. This is what all kinds of computers (hardware and
software) lacks completely in. They do not have minds and nobody knows how
to create that in them.

It is almost like missionaries going to a country with many languages, but
not one with a written form. There hundreds of examples in South America,
Africa and Oceania. First the missionary has to learn the indigenous
language in colloquial sense. Then he has to identify explicitly the
vocabulary vocabulary and grammar of it. Eventually, after many years, he
can start transcribing the Bible with many trials and errors, correcting
where needed. It is exactly here where Afrikaans missionaries, made an
incredible contribution compared to their European counterparts in much
greater numbers. Why? Passion for the Word and knowledge of Afrikaans as the
simplest Germanic language.

Now, after some 60 years of programming languages of different levels, some
patterns have become very clear the more complex a language becomes: the
ability for all hardware and software to work seamlessly (wholeness), the
distinction between being and becoming, the context (system) for which any
particular program was created, the ability for various programs to interact
with integrity, to keep the program between manageable limits, to provide as
much as possible for diversity in tasks and to keep the system open for new
innovations in hardware and software.

It seems as if the evolution of computer languages has become extremely
complex. However, the most complex of all is the machine language at lowest
level without which the computer cannot operate. Its like the vowels and
consonants without which a spoken natural language cannot operate. The
higher the level of complexity, the more of it gets hidden in the background
for the end user. The foreground seems to be very complex for the novice
user. However, after the higher level of language which has been mastered,
the simpler and faster it becomes to create very complex programs seen from
the hidden level of machine language.

What is really difficult to understand, is how all these developments in
software (as well as hardware) integrate with each other into one whole with
a formal foreground and a tacit background. From level to level it involves
a simplification from the descriptive to the intuitive, from mechanics to
art.

I want to end with a word of caution. Natural languages make use of a living
neurological system. Computer languages make use of an inanimate digital
electronic system. Avoid mixing them or substituting insights in each
carelessly. The 250,000 years of evolution caused humans to be far more
complex that the 2,500 years development of machines.

At de lange

Pretoria.

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