Should coding skills be considered a second language?

How do you say “go make me a sandwich” in Java?

Learning another language is about learning another culture as well. No, geek is not a culture.

Check out this article, and then this one.

I kind of think geek is a culture, just not a geographically limited one. ;)

I suppose that an actual coding language could be considered ‘language.’ Not scripting, though.

@bob_ If Python is as simple as XKCD makes it look, you could just say, “import sandwich,” and get the same result.

@Nullo But both “import” and “sandwich” are English words. That’s cheating!

Aaaah, but the meanings are different! I think.

No. Artificial languages and natural languages are too different.

It seems to me that language is used for inter-human communication whereas coding skills are used for human-computer communication.

Also, aren’t coding systems usually expressed in English or the language of the code user/writer?

I could be wrong and if I saw an example of people conversing in e.g., PHP, CSS, etc, then perhaps I’d rethink my present opinion.

When children grow up acquiring Java as a first language, then yes.

@mattbrowne Then what does that say about Esperanto? Or modern German, for that matter.

From a communications standpoint, language is a system for encoding ideas in such a way that they might be converted back into ideas at the other end.

@Nullo – I think Esperanto was created as a simplification of natural languages to be used as a natural language. Java was created to tell computers what to do in a simple way instead of resorting to a direct communication based on huge sequences of 0 and 1s. And Java does have limitations. Can you use Java to tell your computer that you’re in love with it?

@mattbrowne That’s a shortcoming that could be fixed with more development.
I am reminded of the Navajo language, which saw use as a radio code language during the Second World War. Navajo is not equipped for use with industrialized concepts, because the Navajo who developed it lived in relatively primitive conditions. In order to use it to talk about modern technology, certain definitions were broadened – such that bird names would apply to types of aircraft and grenades got called eggs.