This is what I wrote to Arup da (da
: elder brother in Assamese)
this morning. Arup da (Dr Arup Misra) is one of them who have influenced
me in my life so far. I am compiling the list of people who have influenced me in
someway or other in my journey so far. I am indebted to them - will publish
this list some day.
 |
| With Absar da and Arup da |
If you write or have written computer programs then you probably
know what is syntax and semantic error. All most all IDE (integrated
development environment – an editor where
one writes software code), helps with syntax error – it highlights wrong
syntax. Syntax error is like spelling mistake. Computer program can’t have
syntax error – computer doesn't understand wrongly spelled words or statement.
Likewise, most of the text editors, like Microsoft Word, highlights wrongly
spelt word (e.g. : wrongle). Similarly,
like IDE, text editor also doesn’t understand semantic errors. E.g. the following Python program is perfectly
correct
def add(a,b):
print (a*b)
add (2,5)
But it should have been (a + b) instead of (a * b). Similarly, if you write she is a naughtily boy
in Microsoft Word it doesn't complain. Or if you write I was in the book
lunch program this morning it doesn't complain. Today we are so dependent on the editors or IDEs that we ignore such nuances. (I do make such mistake even when I'm careful -:( )
So, how do we handle this problem? First option is to have an editor
which can understand semantics or context. Lot going on in this space but
nothing very concrete is available that I’m aware off. Second option, you need
Arup da to point out such errors. Very meticulous in what he does. He has
helped me multiple times in pointing out semantic errors. Arup da has also
helped & guided me in several other things – those are for some other time.
So, I wrote to him today “that's why I love you.”
