Should all code be written in English?

Question

Firstly, I know this is both subjective and potentially argumentative but it does relate to a real software development problem I’m dealing with firsthand and I’d really appreciate some insights. Should software developers be encouraged to write code in English rather than in their native tongue and how great an obstacle does this create for them? I’m referring to local language naming of variables, methods, filenames, etc entwined with English language syntax (.NET and SQL in this case).

In my particular case (a global organisation encouraging code reuse), there are factors to consider such as collaborating with other people, transitioning support or handing over to another development team. In this instance its pretty clear there needs to be uniformity in the spoken language used but I’m concerned about how this my impact developers used to working differently.

Is it generally any harder for non-native English speakers to write code with English names? How do they go from writing English code syntax to local language naming multiple times in the one line? In a case like this do coders generally understand the meaning of the syntax or just the behaviour? Any thoughts on how all this affects developers and how they can be supported in transitioning to solely English syntax would be most appreciated.

Answer 1

I remember reading an interview with Linus Torvalds, and one of the questions asked why did he comment the code in English and not Swedish. I remember the answer being it was never a consideration of his and it always just seemed right to do it in English.

Having said that I would be inclined to stick with whichever language you consider to be the most commonly used within your workforce.

Answer 2

I'm Italian, live abroad, but I go back to Italy to speak at conferences &c. Sometimes young Italian programmers ask me what's the most important language for them to learn -- presumably expecting answers such as Python, C, Java, ... -- I always answer: English! ANY project worth its salt -- with any chance of ever requiring international cooperation -- must use English; it's THE Lingua Franca in this world we live in (and I do speak as a non-English native speaker -- with 3 decades' experience living and working in many different countries).

Answer 3

I program in English, having tried programming in Norwegian several times. The main reason for doing so is because we have three extra letters, which most languages don't support. Since most programming languages are based on ASCII, its better to stick with it. Who knows what mess the following will cause?

var kjøretøy = new Snøskuter();
kjøretøy.kjør();

The same applies to comments. And when you share code with someone else, and they use a different encoding than you, it really messes things up.