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Re:Language learning makes the brain grow, Swedish study sug... by nachteilig on Monday October 08, 2012 @11:06AM (#4627151)
I kind of wonder if this research would translate to _programming_ languages at all.
Re:Language learning makes the brain grow, Swedish study sug... by saraid216 on Monday October 08, 2012 @12:31PM (#4627595)
I suspect it doesn't. The reason I don't think so is because programming languages aren't spoken; even when we learn a dead natlang, like Latin, we are taught how to speak it even if we're missing the social context.

But that's a guess on top of a guess, so grain of salt and all.

Re:Language learning makes the brain grow, Swedish study sug... by Todd on Monday October 08, 2012 @01:44PM (#4627960)
I would agree with that. Programming languages are more about logic and modeling (algorithms and data structures).

Learning a human language uses a part of the brain which has evolved for that purpose. It not only requires learning thousands of words, and mapping them to concepts, but also learning how they fit together (syntax) and change (morphology). And this needs to be done in real time, both recognition and production.

Re:Language learning makes the brain grow, Swedish study sug... by studentrob on Monday October 08, 2012 @11:13AM (#4627192)
i think it's slightly different with speech language. you are under a much faster time constraint to understand and reply correctly the first time, whereas in programming depending on your style you might just try a bunch of stuff knowing that the computer won't get annoyed with you
Re:Language learning makes the brain grow, Swedish study sug... by frozenflame on Monday October 08, 2012 @01:51PM (#4627992)
I suspect that if it applies in any way, programming itself would be considered the language and the particular programming language you use would be more akin to a dialect.