GrammarBlog

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.
  1. Grammar doesn't follow easily measurable logic.
  2. Application developers' primary language is usually either php or binary as opposed to English.
Nevertheless, surely someone at Google has the brains to sort this simple pluralisation problem.

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!

Labels: , ,

8 Comments:
Blogger Gez said...

I just added this comment to prove my point.

25 June 2007 at 18:35  
Blogger Tom said...

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.

26 June 2007 at 08:54  
Blogger Paul said...

This comment has been removed by the author.

26 June 2007 at 09:03  
Blogger Paul said...

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.)

26 June 2007 at 09:06  
Blogger Fighters Only Mag Editor said...

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!

26 June 2007 at 09:32  
Blogger Gez said...

Was it a "chat" or an "argument"?

26 June 2007 at 13:21  
Blogger Unknown said...

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).

26 June 2007 at 13:38  
Blogger Tom said...

Dev-chat. Sigh. I need to post something about typography ASAP. :P

26 June 2007 at 16:24  

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