Re: A system for localizing documentation strings

[David Kastrup <dak@gnu.org>]

Jean-Christophe Helary <fusion@mx6.tiki.ne.jp> writes:

> There is absolutely _no_ need whatsoever for Japanese people to
> learn _any_ bit of English to become excellent programmers.

If they are to become excellent programmers contributing to Emacs, I
don't see how they could escape the need.

Code written by a grandmaster of programming, tackling a well-defined
task in the most concise and reasonable way: such code can be read and
understand without reverting to comments.  It is code that speaks to
the programmer in a language of its own, an ancient and lasting, old
and beautiful language built from structure and logic that only can be
found in traces of today's conversation languages.

But the majority of code sits on a rock and grunts.  Being able to
read the comments outlining the creator's intention is essential to
understanding its purpose.  In that code does not differ from art.
The amount of art that is timeless and self-sufficient is limited.

-- 
David Kastrup