When I was growing up and first read about computers back in the 80's I was always a bit puzzled by descriptions of programming languages along the lines of "a shorthand of words, numbers and punctuation" - for someone who knows what a programming language is, this is just ridiculous; for someone who doesn't, this does not help.<p>Our society has changed rapidly in the last 10 to 15 years, technology has made its way to the middle with smartphones, tablets, etc. being ubiquitous, and yet I have to read the same utter nonsense in mainstream newspapers each time there is an article mildly related to computer technology.<p>"Dennis M. Ritchie, who helped shape the modern digital era by <i>creating software tools that power things as diverse as search engines like Google and smartphones</i>"<p>Oh, please... seriously? :-(