Re:Dijkstra On the foolishness of "natural language programm...
by cubefox on Thursday April 03, 2025 @08:15AM
(#43568534)
> > there is a reason why legalese is not plain English, and it goes beyond mere gatekeeping.
> unfortunately they're not in any kind of formal language either
Most formulas made of fancy LaTeX symbols you find in math papers aren't a formal language either. They usually can't be mechanically translated via some parser to an actual formal language like Python or Lean. You would need an advanced LLM for that. But they (the LaTeX formulas) are still more precise than most natural language. I assume something similar is the case with legalese.
> unfortunately they're not in any kind of formal language either
Most formulas made of fancy LaTeX symbols you find in math papers aren't a formal language either. They usually can't be mechanically translated via some parser to an actual formal language like Python or Lean. You would need an advanced LLM for that. But they (the LaTeX formulas) are still more precise than most natural language. I assume something similar is the case with legalese.