> the general idea of English-like programming is far from new
IMHO the hardest part of programming is identifying and fulfilling the ephemeral requests of users who aren't sure what they want until they see the thing they told you to build for them and realize it's not what they had in mind.
Re:Avail Programming Language
by vezzy-fnord on Friday February 13, 2015 @11:55AM
(#9045285)
To be honest, even though the concept of English-like programming is commonly berated across various circles, I think the REBOL language might have had potential to prove otherwise. Sadly, like Plan 9, its long-term unwieldy licensing killed its momentum.
As for the language, the general idea of English-like programming is far from new. Here are a few arbitrary historical examples, the most impressive of which is Inform, a language for writing interactive fiction:
http://inform7.com/learn/eg/bronze/source.html
https://cukes.info/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HyperTalk
http://www.csis.ul.ie/cobol/examples/Conditn/IterIf.htm
None of these revolutionized programming. The hard part of programming isn't learning to read a specialized notation. The first hard part of programming is learning how to think in a logical, step-by-step fashion without omitting even the most intuitively obvious details. The second hard part of programming is learning how to maintain a large, complex program as requirements change. Neither of these is made much easier by writing in a rigid, artificial dialect of English.