# The World's Most Maintainable Programming Language

**URL:** <https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/the-worlds-most-maintainable-programming-language/93637>\
**Category:** Ruby\
**Created:** [April 5, 2006, 11:35am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/the-worlds-most-maintainable-programming-language/93637 "2006-04-05T11:35:41Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Bil\_K](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@Bil\_K](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bil_K)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 11:35am UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/the-worlds-most-maintainable-programming-language/93637/1 "2006-04-05T11:35:41Z")

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He’s got Ruby’s naming a bit backwards?

Ruby (named after Ruby Kusanagi Matsumoto,  
Yukihiro M.?s youngest daughter)

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**Author:** ![Bil\_K](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@Bil\_K](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bil_K)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 2:58pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/the-worlds-most-maintainable-programming-language/93637/2 "2006-04-05T14:58:38Z")

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Bil K. wrote:

> [http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2006/03/the\_worlds\_most\_maintainable\_p.html](http://www.oreillynet.com/onlamp/blog/2006/03/the_worlds_most_maintainable_p.html)
> 
> He’s got Ruby’s naming a bit backwards?  
> Not the only thing he got backwards. Did anyone read the part about  
> Learnability? Eliminating mathematical symbols?  
> Making programming languages like natural languages?  
> And in the second part talking about consistency?  
> Has this guy ever taken a natural language processing course?  
> Or even talked to a linguist about the ambiguities of natural language?  
> Good thing it was written on April 1st or I would have been really upset  
> :).  
> Boy, that is a lot of typing for an April fool’s joke.  
> V.-

–  
[http://www.braveworld.net/riva](http://www.braveworld.net/riva)

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**Author:** ![Bil\_K](https://www.ruby-forum.com/letter_avatar_proxy/v4/letter/b/848f3c/32.png) [@Bil\_K](https://www.ruby-forum.com/u/Bil_K)\
**Post date:** [April 5, 2006, 11:37pm UTC](https://www.ruby-forum.com/t/the-worlds-most-maintainable-programming-language/93637/3 "2006-04-05T23:37:31Z")

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I haven’t read the article yet, but there is lots to say in favour of  
natural-language looking code, especially when you are trying to model  
a domain that doesn’t have a strong formalism of its own (maths is a  
good formalism for physics or financial problems, but not for many  
other domains).

Ambiguities can often be solved by interacting with the code and the  
interpreter.

Don’t dismiss the issue off-hand like this, there are some really  
interesting developments in this area.

Of course I haven’t read the article yet and I might just agree with  
you when I read it 🙂

## – Chiaroscuro

Liquid Development: [http://liquiddevelopment.blogspot.com/](http://liquiddevelopment.blogspot.com/)