The foolishness of \"natural language programming\" (1978)
Summary
The article argues against natural language programming, asserting that interfaces between humans and machines remain complex and that formal symbolic systems help prevent nonsensical results. It surveys historical shifts in mathematics and programming to argue that native-language interfaces would not reduce cognitive load and would likely complicate the design of computing systems. It concludes that natural language programming is impractical and that formalism remains essential for reliable computation.