[rectang]

One of the great distinctions between natural languages and programming languages is that programming languages have comparatively little ambiguity — because computers do not have the capacity to consider external context when interpreting the intention of the programmer, and thus cannot resolve ambiguous constructs.

You'd hope that tech folks, from constantly having to accommodate this defect of computers, would develop a sophisticated appreciation for ambiguity. Instead, it seems that the ability to appreciate nuance atrophies.

Legal language may be more formalized than everyday language, but there is still lots and lots of ambiguity. The idea that there is a single correct interpretation of "the law" is nothing more than collective self-deception.

[thelastbender12]

The distinction between natural language and programming languages is interesting, given the push towards machine learning and programming 2.0 that switches explicit instructions in code for training using examples.