%% Last Updated: [[2021-02-11]] %% # Coding Is for Everyone--as Long as You Speak English [Readwise URL](https://readwise.io/bookreview/7665850) | [Source URL](https://www.wired.com/story/coding-is-for-everyoneas-long-as-you-speak-english/) ---  --- Code depends on English--for reasons that are entirely unnecessary at a technical level. ^144131638 **References:** https://instapaper.com/read/1374009241/15472032 --- Here's the very first webpage, reproduced by the tinker-friendly programming website Glitch in honor of the anniversary, ^144131639 **References:** https://instapaper.com/read/1374009241/15472037 --- Now, imagine that this was the first webpage you'd ever seen, that you were excited to peer under the hood and figure out how this worked. But instead of the labels being familiar words, you were faced with this version I created, which is entirely identical to the original except that the source code is based on Russian rather than English. I don't speak Russian, and assuming you don't either, does <zagolovok> and <zaglavie> and <telo> and <p> still feel like something you want to tinker with? ^144131640 **References:** https://instapaper.com/read/1374009241/15472039 --- The fact that programming languages often resemble English words like body or if is a convenient accommodation for our puny human meatbrains, which are much better at remembering commands that look like words we already know. ^144131641 **References:** https://instapaper.com/read/1374009241/15472040 --- It's true that software programs and social media platforms are now often available in some 30 to 100 languages--but what about the tools that make us creators, not just consumers, of computational tools ^144131642 **References:** https://instapaper.com/read/1374009241/15472043 --- Scratch has even done a study showing that children who learn to code in a programming language based on their native language learn faster than those who are stuck learning in another language. What happens when these children grow up? ^144131643 **References:** https://instapaper.com/read/1374009241/15472054 --- But many newer languages, like Python, Ruby, and Lua, come from non-English speaking countries (the Netherlands, Japan, and Brazil) and still use English-based keywords. The initial promise of the web is, for many people, more of a threat--speak English or get left out of the network. ^144131644 **References:** https://instapaper.com/read/1374009241/15472059 --- > We know that Latin's dominance in writing ended. The technology of writing spread to other languages. The technology of coding is no more intrinsically bound to English than the technology of writing was bound to Latin. I propose we start by adjusting the way we talk about programming languages when they contain words from human languages. The first website wasn't written in HTML--it was written in English HTML. The snippet of code that appears along the bottom of Glitch's reproduction? It's not in JavaScript, it's in English JavaScript. When we name the English default, it becomes more obvious that we can question it--we can start imagining a world that also contains Russian HTML or Swahili JavaScript, where you don't have an unearned advantage in learning to code if your native language happens to be English. > \ > This world doesn't exist yet. Perhaps in the next 30 years, we'll make it. ^144131645 **References:** https://instapaper.com/read/1374009241/15472080 ---