Monday 25 June 2007
Automated grammar
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It really bugs me that Blogger unashamedly tells me that a post has "1 comments". It seems grammar is a problem for application programmers; I suspect this is for two main reasons.
Facebook tackled a much more complicated issue with their status updates and at least gave it a go before finally giving up.
- Grammar doesn't follow easily measurable logic.
- Application developers' primary language is usually either php or binary as opposed to English.
Facebook tackled a much more complicated issue with their status updates and at least gave it a go before finally giving up.
Maybe we should petition Google to get it sorted, maybe we should start a revolution! Or maybe even a Facebook group!
posted by Gez at 6:24 pm
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8 Comments:
I just added this comment to prove my point.
From my experience, developers (application programmers, 'technologists' etc etc) are actually very sound when it comes to grammar. Their logical nature makes their written English pretty damn good.
I think the problem with things like "1 comments" is that developers also favour solutions which are logically elegant above all else, which means that writing extra code for the sake of stylistic benefit (eg "1 comment") can sometimes make them twitchy.
This comment has been removed by the author.
Generally, Thomas, I agree; elegant code beats stylistic benefit. I am a developer, after all. That said, there are some "unforgivable" developmental "traits", as it were. The comment/comments vibe is one of those.
(Tom and I had a chat about the previous incarnation of this comment. The semicolon won.)
From a neurotic programmer's point of view - and when I say neurotic I mean I have a borderline case of OCD - I can't stand it when indolent code jockeys don't take the trouble to write that extra line or two of code that ensures perfection. I don't care what their primary language is, there's no excuse for shoddy workmanship!
Was it a "chat" or an "argument"?
Some developers actually enjoy finding elegant solutions to stylistic problems.
I've worked on multi-lingual applications in the past which require much greater attention to detail than simple pluralisations.
Here's an example:
http://www.thinkvitamin.com/features/webapps/give-your-web-app-international-appeal-part-ii
Changing 'comment' to 'comments' or adding the 'st','nd','rd' or 'th' to '1st', '2nd', '3rd', '4th' etc. is GCSE computer studies stuff (I hope).
Dev-chat. Sigh. I need to post something about typography ASAP. :P
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