[enf]

I was a linguistics major in college and therefore am a descriptivist, not a prescriptivist about language. When I say I cannot say this, I mean that this construct does not exist in the ordinary dialect that I speak, in the same way that I can say "that doesn't need washed" even though speakers of many other dialects have to say "washing" instead. If it is in someone else's dialect, they can feel free to say it, but my experience is that it is rare.

[dahart]

> If it is in someone else's dialect, they can feel free to say it, but my experience is that it is rare.

Agreed. And this is the reason why use of 'else' in programming languages might not have had to be invented, right?

[josephg]

No. The article goes into great detail on this - if-else as a construct took a lot of iterations to finally appear in its current form. That fact is largely independent of how natural the word 'else' feels. If we used 'otherwise' instead of 'else', the control flow construct still wouldn't have been obvious.

[dahart]

Yes it is clear that the control flow construct was invented in this form, and that programming languages evolved. It’s still true that this use of “else” paralleled use of “else” in English, and that it’s appearance in programming languages, while interesting, is not a “mystery” or a misuse of language that was “invented” by German programmers.

[tkgally]

Below is one of the definitions for "else" in the online edition of the Oxford English Dictionary followed by some of the citations. Some are archaic and some are from poetry, but the last two citations seem to indicate fairly recent colloquial usage.

3.a. In another case, under other circumstances; otherwise, on any other supposition; if not. Now usually preceded by or: see or else at or conj.1 6.

a1225 (c1200) Vices & Virtues (1888) 27 (MED) All ȝelief ðu fastliche, elles ðu, ne namann ne mai bien ȝeboreȝen. a1375 (c1350) William of Palerne (1867) l. 1647 (MED) Foule þow me fodest wiþ þi faire wordes, elles had i deide for duel. 1570 T. Tusser Hundreth Good Pointes Husbandry (new ed.) f. 19 Where Iuie embraceth the tree very sore, kill Iuie, or tree else will adle no more. 1590 E. Spenser Faerie Queene i. i. sig. A5v Strangle her, els she sure will strangle thee. 1837 J. H. Newman Parochial Serm. (ed. 3) I. v. 115 Else how should any one be saved? 1873 R. Browning Red Cotton Night-cap Country ii. 115 Boughs above, Darken, deform the path, else sun would streak. 1938 H. L. Mencken Diary 10 Aug. (1989) 112 Black has told friends that this indicates to him that Reed must be a trimmer, else he would not be favored by all parties. 2013 L. Powell Witch Fire xvii. 155 Shut up, else I'll only make it worse for you. Both of you.

And here are a few citations I found by searching at Project Gutenberg:

They were, in fact, beatified bees, who had to be solemnly invited to attend the death mass when the owner died, else they would fly away, refusing to stay.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/14036/14036-h/14036-h.htm

“now, I hope, my trial is ended; else its length will be, as in some other cases, the worst of punishments.”

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/9414/9414-h/9414-h.htm

It is absolutely necessary that the plate be chemically clean all over, else the film of collodion, upon drying, will split, and the negative be spoilt.

https://www.gutenberg.org/files/52378/52378-h/52378-h.htm

[LudwigNagasena]

Anti-prescriptivists are a myth. Sure, there are people who are deluded enough to think that they are “descriptivists” through and through, they may even shroud their prescriptivism with relativistic jargon, but the actions speak more than words. I have never seen a human who doesn’t think that some words and grammar constructions are appropriate and some are not.