TEACHING COMPUTER LANGUAGE AS A LANGUAGE

ROBACUS has adopted English as its native language. This creates a problem for non-English speaking users. However this problem does not have to be a disadvantage. We could bundle the English vocabulary with those of the computer languages and commands. Furthermore, we could even design grammar for computer languages to avoid any unnecessary distraction from having to make trivial, yet distracting, decisions in programming.

The current practice of teaching computer language as a technical subject is an overkill. Most effort is spent in deciphering the technical problem rather than the actual language. Trying to be technically efficient in programming is also a major cause of tripping over oneself as well as others. Therefore, teaching computer language as a language may actually be an advantage.

The courseware for teaching ROBACUS to non-English speaking users should include:

1. A set of commonly used English words, include at the minimum all those used in the natural-language programming.

2. A set of computer termilogy and vocabuary, include Fortran, C, Xwindow system and Perl.

3. Rules on naming variables and files in ROBACUS to achieve consistency among users, code-generators and robots.

4. A unified programming grammar for better communication among all ROBACUS developers.

As ROBACUS will be the foundation upon which all software will be built, it serves as the borderline between newly defined software and hardware. This border is the set of English words we assembled. Specifically it's the natural programming program. Anything above that is software, which will all be for production purposes, rather than for building the foundation itself.

And by the same token, the new hardware will be defined as everything that are used to build the foundation of the software industry. They include, besides the hard hardware, such as chips, memories and peripherals, and their drivers, the operating systems, utility routines and, yes, all the computer (or non-natural) languages.

A foundation can be only as strong as it is compact. This is where unification comes in. We should all agree on a minimally sufficient set of hardware, which specifically must apply strictly to computer languages. And we should all limit ourselves to using only this set of computer vocaburary.

Ok, it's hard for the computer hackers and geeks to swallow this new idea of a foundation. But haven't the true future software professionals, which include practically everyone else in the technical and business professions, waited long enough for this day to arrive?

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1.35 COMPUTING FUTURE PLAN
abacus.

1.36 PONGFU AS A MODERN SPORT
spar.

1.37 OLYMPIC TENNIS SCHOOL
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1.38 BODY TENNIS FOR 2012 OLYMPICS
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1.39 HOLLOWING CHINESE CHARACTERS

1.40 SPIRIT OF SHANGHAI
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