The VBA part of the meme is real, VBA is (was?) localized. Turns out it’s a horrible idea: some keywords are badly translated, some are not translated at all. Googling localized error messages is useless, so you need to guess the original error message from the translation. Want to copy/paste a function from SO? Not so fast, you need to translate the keywords first! And the variable names as well while you’re at it.
Ironically, you end up spending a lot of time on translation-related issues. I’ve worked on a french-VBA app, and it was a miserable experience (well, even more miserable than english VBA).
Yeah, one time I helped out an HR person with an Excel formula. It took like 5 minutes to write the formula on my laptop. Then I sent it to them and it took another 5 minutes to translate it into the local language…
Considering that using a keyword to name anything results in compiler (or worse! Interpreter) errors, and that libraries are a thing. And also that copy-pasting code from the internet is a thing. I don’t think it would be a good idea to localize programming languages.
Industrial controls equipment made by German companies can be programmed in English or German. You can also switch languages (German/English) at any time and the IDE switches over all the keywords.
I know this is a joke but it’s still wild to me that programming languages aren’t localised.
The VBA part of the meme is real, VBA is (was?) localized. Turns out it’s a horrible idea: some keywords are badly translated, some are not translated at all. Googling localized error messages is useless, so you need to guess the original error message from the translation. Want to copy/paste a function from SO? Not so fast, you need to translate the keywords first! And the variable names as well while you’re at it.
Ironically, you end up spending a lot of time on translation-related issues. I’ve worked on a french-VBA app, and it was a miserable experience (well, even more miserable than english VBA).
Yeah, one time I helped out an HR person with an Excel formula. It took like 5 minutes to write the formula on my laptop. Then I sent it to them and it took another 5 minutes to translate it into the local language…
Want to make my job harder? Because that’s how you make my job harder.
I guess it would make it way more complicated to use other peoples code if that where the case.
Considering that using a keyword to name anything results in compiler (or worse! Interpreter) errors, and that libraries are a thing. And also that copy-pasting code from the internet is a thing. I don’t think it would be a good idea to localize programming languages.
Industrial controls equipment made by German companies can be programmed in English or German. You can also switch languages (German/English) at any time and the IDE switches over all the keywords.
You think that about math not being localized too?
Technically math is localised, especially in places that don’t use the western alphabet.