Learning Language

I know a fair number of individuals that are proponents of classifying programming languages as foreign languages, in an effort to circumvent the requirement of learning a foreign language in college. They argue that computer languages conform to all the requirements of language systems, and thus, should qualify in lieu of French or German.

There are so many things that sound great on paper, and almost plausible. Then you speak them outloud, and the illusion dissipates. On the contrary, I'd almost rather that everyone learn a computer language in addition to a foreign language, and attempt to help bridge the gap between the technical haves and the technical have-nots. Besides, some of those computer science courses need more women.

I'd like to imagine that part of the reason for learning a foreign language is to expand the possibilities of communication with those different than you. Computer languages, on the other hand, expand the possibilities of telling computers what to do. It's almost digital slavery, but for the lack of free will in computing. And someday, in the far-flung future, someone will raise this same issue.

Communication with others. This is not something that developers are naturally good at (and I absolutely suck around people, before you say I'm a hypocrite). If anything, learning a computer language solely will isolate them further from those different than them. Yeah, people are scary, I know this too damned well. Deal with the technological dearth.