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arXiv:1808.03916cs.PL

Linguistic Relativity and Programming Languages

Jiahao Chen

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Abstract

The use of programming languages can wax and wane across the decades. We examine the split-apply- combine pattern that is common in statistical computing, and consider how its invocation or implementation in languages like MATLAB and APL differ from R/dplyr. The differences in spelling illustrate how the concept of linguistic relativity applies to programming languages in ways that are analogous to human languages. Finally, we discuss how Julia, by being a high performance yet general purpose dynamic language, allows its users to express different abstractions to suit individual preferences.

arXiv comments
10 pages, repo at https://github.com/jiahao/statistical-computing-linguistics, Published in Proceedings of the 2016 Joint Statistical Meetings, Chicago, IL, USA
Journal reference
DOI
Subjects
cs.PLProgramming Languages cs.MSMathematical Software stat.COComputation (Statistics)

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  1. Over-reliance on English hinders cognitive science 1 comment

    • Tell it to the papers: https://www.cs.drexel.edu/~csg63/publications/onward24/onwar... https://arxiv.org/pdf/1808.03916 As vague analogies go, much more ridiculous and vague things have been published and peer reviewed and even gotten significant citations. Like ecological…

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