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Is Python the Esperanto of programming languages?

Isaac To kkto at csis.hku.hk
Fri Mar 21 23:50:09 EST 2003 
>>>>> "Dennis" == Dennis Lee Bieber <wlfraed at ix.netcom.com> writes:

    Dennis> And the differences between pitches in some of the Chinese based
    Dennis> languages aren't affected by noise?

Yes, it's affected.  That's what I mean by "tones" in my last post.

    Dennis> I'd hate to have to teach a deaf person how to be fluent in
    Dennis> Chinese...

You don't need a deaf to be nearly impossible to teach someone tones.
Nearly no non-native speakers get the tone correct---even through it is
clear they can sing quite well. =) And indeed, it is difficult even for
Cantonese speakers to speak Mandarin in all correct tones and vice-versa,
even though both are languages that put strong emphasis on them!

    Dennis> At least the western tenses/etc. don't rely upon singing the
    Dennis> language...

So if you design a new language you probably shouldn't put as strong
emphasis to tones as in Chinese.

Regards,
Isaac.
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