Coding has been the backbone of computer work that makes literally everything in our modern world work, directly or indirectly. Code is one of those things that can be easy to learn, but difficult to master. Take it from me, as I get excited when I create a for loop that doesn’t break after it’s third iteration. Code in of itself is a whole language that transcends borders and can be learned, given you have the time, resources and dedication to learn. At least that is what I thought until I learned that most major code is actually made in American English.

Julianne Tveten outlined in her article “Code is Political” that the major coding languages like C++ and Python are ONLY available in English. A lot of the functionality of these codes demand that you have some working knowledge of English to perform certain commands and actions. It was through the article that I learned about قلب, a computer language completely written in Arabic[1]. It seems that many of us naive English speakers take the language for granted, and don’t even realize it. My coding know how is pretty basic at best and utterly useless at worst. Even now I just barely speak English as a naive speaker. I could not imagine having to learn another language just to another language.

I believe that the coding world should be more inclusive and accepting of others as much as possible given the fact that the internet is a place that brings a lot of people and cultures together. There could be coders in France who have the ability to create amazing new things for us on the internet, but are unable to due to this barrier of entry. I understand that this is a challenge that has plagued the field of computer science since the introduction and creation of the computer. There are some solutions already in pay, but I believe that there needs to be a united front to deal with the issue at hand.

The internet was created with the idea of freedom in mind. It was created with the idea that anyone can crate what they can with their talents. But if we stifle the talents of others due to this unnecessary justification, can we really see that goal come to life? I would love to see more promotion of code converts, programs that allow the programmer to make code in their native language and convert the result into something that anyone can pick up and work on in their OWN native language. Such a task may be enormous and even costly, but I believe that such a task will bring us closer as one, as our world become more dependent on everyone working together.

[1] Tveten, Julianne, “Code Is Political,” https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/3dak5w/code-is-political, published March 1, 2016