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Re: Is English needed for PHP programmers??
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 11:24 am
by Mordred
Hockey wrote:
I just recently learned when to use a semi-colon.
(...)
p.s-I'm part Irish I'm allowed to say that.

I see you're still working on the commas
Actually, I am virtually unaware (that is to say, I've forgotten them all) of the English punctuaction rules and I go about them at a gut feeling - generally I follow the Bulgarian rules minus half the places, as English is generally less heavy on the commas. I also overuse parentheses, sometimes nesting them quite a few times ... IIRC Asimov writes like that sometimes

Re: Is English needed for PHP programmers??
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 12:40 pm
by alex.barylski
I use comma's basically when I have to breathe as I think out loud in my head what I am about to say. It does result in hard to read sentances but I usually catch them if I re-read my writing. I rarely proof read anything I post on a forum though.

Re: Is English needed for PHP programmers??
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 1:57 pm
by Christopher
Commas in English are used in lists, for independent clauses, for long initial phrases and as parentheses.
Lists can be either nouns like: Some lanugages are Ruby, Pascal, Perl, PHP, and Python. Or a list of adjectives for the same noun like: PHP is a C-like, web focused, widely deployed language.
Independent clauses are separate from the main idea of the sentence like: Most members like PHP, but Ollie likes Ruby.
Starting a sentence with a long phrase (that could also go at the end) like: After reading a chapter in the book, the Observer pattern made sense.
Asides and additions to sentences like: Hockey's problems with commas, sounding like drunk a Irish poet or not, were well known.
Those are the main grammatical ones. There are also some conventional uses of commas, such as in dates and addresses, after salutations in letters, etc.
Re: Is English needed for PHP programmers??
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 2:33 pm
by alex.barylski
Hockey's problems with commas, sounding like drunk a Irish poet or not, were well known.
Bahaha...nice
Those are usually the rules which assist in my reasoning to use comma's or not...yet I have never bothered to formalize them in my head. I guess that is what happens when you learn a language via osmosis.
Re: Is English needed for PHP programmers??
Posted: Wed Jul 23, 2008 4:12 pm
by JellyFish
I've been learning a little bit of Esperanto and have been enjoying it.

Re: Is English needed for PHP programmers??
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 1:38 am
by Mordred
Thanks for the comma tips
Also, aposotrophes are used for:
- Posessiveness: Hockey's Canadian English.
- Omitted letters in shortened forms: Let's all learn English, it's a cool language: O'Henry writes in it.
They're not used for indicating plurals:
"Plurals", not "plural's". "Plural's" is valid, but means "that which belongs, or is an attribute of the plural"
The only exception is when we indicate plurals of single letters, like the a's and z's.
Definitely not "comma
's" though
P.S. I'm not sure if O'Henry is a shortened form (of-the-Henry-family), or an immitation of the Irish O with diacritic (Ó Einri = grandson of Henry). Is
Maugrim reading this?
Re: Is English needed for PHP programmers??
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 3:27 am
by Christopher
What a feast of interminable prolixity! Such dizzying heights have never before been attained at DevNetwork! I swoon at the artful incomprehensibility of it! It may be the lyrics to a song by either Abba or Fall Out Boy. Perhaps we will need to create a new award next year...
Re: Is English needed for PHP programmers??
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 5:31 am
by Mordred
Aye, such exuberant prose is undeniably the workmanship of a genuine master of oververbousness; apparently a profound examination was conducted both on the librettos of various supercultural evergreens ("July Morning" was definitely the source of the "unturned stone" reference) as well as a multitude of dictionaries and thesaurii. Methinks that the unadulterated mode of speech of the inhabitants of the East Carribean must have such exquisitness that reinterpreting it into English cannot but lose much of its original signification and transcend the customary boundaries of understandability.
----
I'm serious about the last statement, there's no other explanation of this phenomenon.
Re: Is English needed for PHP programmers??
Posted: Thu Jul 24, 2008 7:24 am
by Eran

you guys...
Re: Is English needed for PHP programmers??
Posted: Mon Jul 28, 2008 9:36 am
by ghurtado
This thread is hilarious, beginning to end
