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Activity Number: 632
Type: Invited
Date/Time: Thursday, August 4, 2016 : 8:30 AM to 10:20 AM
Sponsor: Section on Statistical Computing
Abstract #318406
Title: Linguistic Relativity and Programming Languages
Author(s): Jiahao Chen* and Andreas Noack and Jake Bolewski and Alan Edelman
Companies: MIT and MIT and MIT and MIT
Keywords: programming languages ; linguistic relativity ; APL ; MATLAB ; R ; Julia
Abstract:

The use of programming languages can wax and wane across the decades. We examine the split- apply-combine pattern that is common in statistical computing, and consider how its invocation or implementation in languages like MATLAB and APL differ from R/dplyr. The differences in spelling illustrate how the concept of linguistic relativity applies to programming languages in ways that are analogous to human languages. Finally, we discuss how Julia, by being a high performance yet general purpose dynamic language, allows its users to express different abstractions to suit individual preferences.


Authors who are presenting talks have a * after their name.

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