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Comment by benj111 | Hacker News Reader

They should have said python compiler (shorter) or python compiler in c++ (more accurate and only one character longer, including spaces).

Considering at least 2 people have gone to look at the source and then come here to comment, it would have been a net benefit for all involved. Plus, what does it say about the potential quality of your compiler if you can't even make correct English statements? This seems easier to get right than if( x = *p++ )

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These headlines usually work by the dept asking a researcher for a 10 sentence summary of their work. Someone in the dept summarizes that to 3 sentences, and sends that to the university pr dept. The university turns that 3 sentences into 1 and that's what's published. My take is this says more about the weird game of telephone being played than it does about the research product itself.

Yes, but it's a game of telephone that does make it annoying for HN readers to try and actually understand what's being presented, so it should be discussed and corrected if possible.

true, but if that's the case, then the game of telephone would not call (haha) into question the quality of the compiler, since the devs were not responsible for the game.

1. It currently only compiles a subset of Python, which is presumably why they said it was based on Python rather than Python.

2. There are lots of good developers who aren't capable of making any statements in English.

> This seems easier to get right than if( x = *p++ )

For people with native or fluent English, for sure. For the others, probably not.

What level of English fluency should we expect of professors at MIT and writers for their site?

_The Shaft_, a Georgia Tech periodical (similar to _The Onion_ in spirit), interviewed a local associate professor: "How can I be expected to teach math if my students don't speak basic Mandarin?"

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