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Programming Can Help You Learn Foreign Languages
Posted by WingedPanther73,
01 July 2012
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One of my most recent projects is learning Japanese. What can I say? I love anime, but would rather not have to read English subtitles. Crazy, right?
Anyway, it turns out that Japanese basically uses postfix notation instead of infix notation for their sentences. What do I mean by that? In English, we say things like "I kicked the ball." In Japanese, the order would be "I the ball kicked." English uses [subject] [verb] [object] (infix), while Japanese uses [subject] [object] [verb] (postfix).
Learning a variety of programming languages can help you to get used to things like that. C++ uses infix for most operators. Since Java doesn't support operator overloading, you have to use functions, and the associated prefix notation. Lisp even uses prefix notation for operators.
Anyway, it turns out that Japanese basically uses postfix notation instead of infix notation for their sentences. What do I mean by that? In English, we say things like "I kicked the ball." In Japanese, the order would be "I the ball kicked." English uses [subject] [verb] [object] (infix), while Japanese uses [subject] [object] [verb] (postfix).
Learning a variety of programming languages can help you to get used to things like that. C++ uses infix for most operators. Since Java doesn't support operator overloading, you have to use functions, and the associated prefix notation. Lisp even uses prefix notation for operators.
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