English, Python, C++, Spanish – all languages, right? Wrong? Maybe? Dive into the differences between natural languages (spoken or signed) and programming languages with a linguist and teacher to learn where we can draw on tried and true natural language learning methods to become better developers.
As a former linguist and university language instructor, now a programmer, people often assume that my natural language (spoken, signed, or written) learning analysis background made learning to code easier for me. They might say something like “That makes sense, they’re languages, right? They have syntax.” These casual comments seem true on the surface when talking about parts of speech and data types. But once you dig deeper, it becomes clear that there are important differences between these types of languages despite the shared name. Many skills and methods I have utilized in learning languages and teaching languages as an adult to adults have served me well as a developer. These many areas of overlap that exist in language learning are the main focus of this talk. The second portion addresses key points of divergence between learning a natural language and a programming language that we need to keep in mind in order to not over-generalize.