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Computer language

M. Thiagarajen

BORN an Indian, one is bound to learn more than one language besides the mother tongue. Having spent considerable time outside Tamil Nadu, I had the opportunity to learn and practise Hindi, Gujarati and, of course, English. I always wondered how the tong ue switches quickly from one language to another, when we meet people of different regions. With such Babel of tongues, we communicate coherently with others.

As if these are not enough, my children tell me that if I do not learn the computer language, I will be left high and dry. Besides, I am told that one has to update one's knowledge by keeping in touch with the latest in the language. After all, a languag e is required for communicating with each other. Why learn one more and mix up languages? My children explained that the computer language is not a language in the real sense of the word but is for faster communication, reporting and disseminating of inf ormation.

Convinced half way, I decided to sit in front of the monitor to give it a try. My daughter decided to teach me `Windows'. Staying on the first floor I thought it was not the safest way to learn a language -- leaning on windows. Little did I realise that `Windows' was an operating system that enables you to do a whale of things. All it required was moving a caged mouse on a flat pad. Here a click, there a click, and every where a click, click; it was more like the cacophony coming from Old McDo nald's farmhouse, when the multimedia speaker was put to use.

I took aeons to type a message as I do not have formal training in typing. Ultimately when the message was typed, it looked great, as the mistakes were easily deductible unlike the typewriter. Few more clicks, the message was transmitted within seconds a cross many countries and oceans to a cousin in the US.

Trying to gather more knowledge from the computer literates in my home, I learnt there was an operating system MS DOS (sounds a Bengali name), languages C++ (new blood grouping!), JAVA (no relation to Sumatra) and so on. But when I sat alone before the s creen, it looked the dumbest of all I have known. It did not respond to any of my clicks or keyboard typing. Never mind that I did not know the right language to communicate but I expected it to respond in some form or other.

I read in a news report that by 2015, computers will catch up with human intelligence. It will interact with you and, perhaps, have a human face. It will no longer be necessary for technophobes to master computers. With artificial intelligence, voice rec ognition and natural language processing, you will be able to say something, which it will understand.

So why should I learn a language to communicate with the computer that does not emote feelings? I will wait till 2015.