Posts relating to linguistics.
Recently a friend and fellow programmer asked me how I learn a new language or platform. I answered that I do it with specific task in mind. Basically, I bumble along googling every little step until I complete my task. But I forgot to tell her about the pitfall of this method…
It’s a wonderful fact about the world that humans have thousands of living languages. And a wonderful fact about many software development environments that they provide ways to create versions of applications localized into the most common of those languages. But before localization (or should I say world-readiness) sweeps you off your feet, let me tell you about some unexpected difficulties with Kineme’s first localized application.
Lately I’ve been working on integrating (or, more accurately, attempting to integrate) the Python scripting language into some plugins for an application we develop plugins for. We’ve wrapped many libraries with varying levels of success, so this one wasn’t going to be much different. Or, so we thought.
Updated: now with response.
I thought to myself this morning – I want an Eggo Waffle. You see, I have never had one, but have always been interested. There were some in the freezer that Robert had bought, removed from their packaging because of his space-saving ways.
Naturally I found the need to prepare an Eggo Waffle to the correct specifications as I wanted to make sure that I was having the correct Eggo experience (microwave, toast, pan fry, what?). To my surprise the feast was ruined (credit for the title), and breakfast was not magically delicious.
I searched for this in English and couldn’t find it with a Google once-over. So I decided to translate Warum gabst du uns die tiefen Blicke myself (with the help of leo.org). This translation is a bit creative, especially with the punctuation. But I think Goethe would understand.
Why give us insight? by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, translated from the German by me. Why give us the ability to see consciously our destiny: our love, our earthly happiness, and to blissfully fancy that we can ignore our foreboding?