Techie Brekkie #9 / Code is a Natural Language

Join us bright and early on 8 July for a stimulating talk by Alec McEachran for you to enjoy over a delicious free breakfast.

Techie Brekkie is open to all disciplines to help foster partnership and collaboration.

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// 'Code is a Natural Language' //
Alec McEachran, Principal Software Developer at KPV Lab

Most of the time, building a software application is a team enterprise. Solving problems and writing code that computers can execute can be challenging… but that’s the easy part, compared to writing code your teammates can understand!

Writing code is about formalising algorithms that computers can execute, but it’s also about communicating ideas between each other. Over time, this communicative part becomes more important.

Code is ultimately reduced to a set of computer instructions. Natural languages like English or Spanish cannot be reduced in this way. The meaning of natural language is created by a shared understanding between the group who are communicating. Meanings can shift over time!

Natural language is all ambiguity and nuance. Today, most of us never see the instructions that our code produces. Our code is full of nouns and verbs. Our descriptions contextualise and disambiguate. To write code well, we have to pay attention to our code’s natural language.

// About Alec

Alec is Principal Software Developer at KPV Lab, Edinburgh, working on web 3D graphics. He used to be a Senior Software Developer at YouTube. He has a degree in Philosophy and a PGCE in Mathematics Education, and worked as a secondary school Mathematics teacher for a few years. He also swims a lot and supports Aston Villa. He and his wife have a very spoiled cat called Winnie.

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