From Fluent 2015: “Javascript is Esperanto that does something.” Constructed languages — conlangs — are artificially-created languages, a category which includes Esperanto, Elvish, Klingon, Dothraki, and yes, Javascript. Can thinking about Javascript the way we think about other human languages help us be better coders, or at least write more readable code?
About Erin McKean (Wordnik):
Erin McKean is the founder of the newly-not-for-profit Wordnik.com, the world’s biggest online dictionary. Before founding Wordnik, she was the editor-in-chief of American Dictionaries for Oxford University Press, and before Javascript, she dabbled in HyperCard, Perl, and Omnimark (if you have ever written anything in Omnimark, she will buy you a drink). She’s the author of the Weird and Wonderful Words books, the best-selling novel The Secret Lives of Dresses, and (most recently) The Hundred Dresses, a field guide to dresses. She blogs at dressaday.com. When you meet her, please tell her your favorite word.
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12 responses to “The Linguistics of JavaScript – Erin McKean (Wordnik) keynote”
I would date the hell out of her… too cute and too smart 🙂
I downloaded an ecommerece webpage with javascript files but product zoom only work in online that not work when i download it. i am not a developer plz help me
Fascinating, Jim!
As a programmer who also studied linguistics, this makes me very happy.
What really impresses me is that Erin McKean did such a great talk on linguistics and coding without even mentioning the Chomsky Hierarchy and its contribution to the understanding and design of programming languages 😉
The most hilarious programming language talk I've ever seen;
Excellent short talk. I loved it! :]
The definition on this video is damn high!
My heart rejoices. Linguistics and JavaScript in a talk, what's not to like?
Love this – brilliant 🙂
Absolutely brilliant and lovely perspective of Javascript ♥ Thank you very much! Let's hope for more sweet content like this soon.
For other keynotes and interviews from the conference, visit our Fluent 2015 playlist! http://goo.gl/OD6xbU