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Thinking out loud about inflection in programming languages:

• Functions are the analogue of verbs - what would a conjugated function look like?
• Function arguments are like the object of a transitive verb, though it might be that one argument is the direct object and another the indirect object.
• Giving a variable something like a case (nominative, genitive, etc) by changing its form is a way of adding metadata to the program (information about the variable). There are a few problems here - adding an indicator to the variable name - a stem perhaps - would quickly become visually redundant. Maybe add something to the variable when it's declared (but what about languages that don't require var declaration)? Does the .NET concept of attributes apply here? What about aspect-oriented programming?
• Use of inflection necessarily makes the language context-dependent - what affect does this have on the grammar? On the availability of a parser-generator?
• There seems to be some writing on the idea of pronouns in programming languages - how do those ideas fit in here?
• Would adding inflection make code shorter?
• Could I write a Lisp macro that converted code using declensions and conjugations into standard Lisp? What would conjugated and declined Lisp look like?
• Would adding metadata in the form of inflection make translation (compilation) easier in any way?

 

Worked on the lilobot cartoon a little this afternoon, after getting home from work earlier than expected. Am mostly happy with how it's translating to the digital medium, but am a little embarrassed that the illustrations are so childish. I hope to have eight panels done by this weekend.