Language Games • Eli Holderness • GOTO 2024

This presentation was recorded at GOTO Amsterdam 2024. #GOTOcon #GOTOams https://gotoams.nl Eli Holderness - Developer Advocate & Professional Nerd RESOURCES https://bsky.app/profile/eli.holderness.dev https://twitter.com/eliholderness https://hachyderm.io/@eli https://linkedin.com/in/eli-holderness-4890b886 https://github.com/eli-miriam https://eli.holderness.dev ABSTRACT Communication: it's the oldest problem we have. It's already hard enough to talk to people, but as software engineers we have to talk to computers as well - often at the same time. Getting communication wrong leads to problems anywhere between 'my code is buggy' to 'this project is 6 months overdue and doesn't meet any of the requirements'. There are thousands of books, webinars and conference talks out there about how to communicate more effectively, and we still haven't figured it out. In this talk, I'll take you through some rigorous frameworks for thinking about communication, and explain how they can help you talk both to people and to computers. I'll argue that it's actually much easier to communicate with computers than other human beings, and that the inability to communicate perfectly isn't a failure - it's normal. Finally, I'll talk about what all of this means for us as engineers, designers and producers of software, and what we can do to make all our lives a little easier. [...] TIMECODES 00:00 Intro 00:22 What is this talk about? 03:18 Ferdinand de Saussure 07:32 Saudade 10:29 Ludwig Wittgenstein 15:40 Saudade 16:58 This is not a place of honor 25:08 Programming languages 28:20 Paul Grice 32:49 What about code? 38:45 Conclusions 39:52 Outro Download slides and read the full abstract here: https://gotoams.nl/2024/sessions/3119 RECOMMENDED BOOKS Ferdinand de Saussure & Roy Harris • Course in General Linguistics • https://amzn.to/4gw1GNn Ludwig Wittgenstein & Alexander Booth • Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus • https://amzn.to/3MU5j1Y Paul Grice • Studies in the Way of Words • https://amzn.to/4ecRrfl https://twitter.com/GOTOcon https://www.linkedin.com/company/goto- https://www.instagram.com/goto_con https://www.facebook.com/GOTOConferences #Language #ProgrammingLanguage #Communication #FerdinandDeSaussure #Saudade #LudwigWittgenstein #LanguageGames #PaulGrice #Linguistics #EliHolderness CHANNEL MEMBERSHIP BONUS Join this channel to get early access to videos & other perks: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCs_tLP3AiwYKwdUHpltJPuA/join Looking for a unique learning experience? Attend the next GOTO conference near you! Get your ticket at https://gotopia.tech Sign up for updates and specials at https://gotopia.tech/newsletter SUBSCRIBE TO OUR CHANNEL - new videos posted almost daily. https://www.youtube.com/user/GotoConferences/?sub_confirmation=1