Michel Claveau - abstraction méta-galactique non triviale en fuite perpétuelle. wrote: > Hi ! > > >>> It is a least-common-denominator argument, not a "this is better" > argument. > > I understand, but I have a feeling of attempt at hegemony. Is english > language really least-common-denominator for a russian who writes into > cyrillic, or not anglophone chinese?
I don't know about Chinese but English *is* the least common denominator for native Russian software developers, there are a lot of reasons for that: - to switch between Russian keyboard layout and English keyboard you need to press a switch key or usually even two keys (at the same time). Since language syntax and library calls are in English you have to switch often. Very often you forget what is the current keyboard layout and start typing in wrong one and you have to delete the garbage, hit switch key and type it again. If it happens ten times every ten minutes it will drive you crazy. - Most of native Russian developers graduated from universities or institutes. They attended hundreds of hours of math and physics classes. All these classes use latin notation. - Any serious local sw development job application mentions "Technical English" as requirement. It means you're expected to read technical documents in English. - At the same time majority of native Russians developers do not speak English very well and they feel they need more English practice. Using English identifiers is a chance to practice while you work. - The amount of useful information in English is much greater than in Russian, thanks to Internet. Surprised? :) Serge. -- http://mail.python.org/mailman/listinfo/python-list
