Today Is a Good Day to Edit

I know that when I need to post updates to my latest regressions of Shakespeare back into his native Klingon, I turn to the exolinguist's best friend: the Mac coding tool BBEdit*. I fire it up, and select File > New > HTML Document, then choose Klingon from the Language pop-up menu.

I'd better make sure I haven't dishonored my family unto the severalth generation, consigning myself and them to Gre'Thor, by checking that the page is well formed (Markup > Check > Document Syntax).

Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the targs they are!

Debugging? Klingons do not debug. Our software does not coddle the weak.

This code is a piece of gagh! You have no honor!

Perfect. Publish.

*Version 9.6 still doesn't suck.

Image by SocialTechnologies.com via Creative Commons license.

Glenn Fleishman, @glennf, is the Executive Editor of The Magazine, a fortnightly electronic periodical for people interested in everything. Glenn also hosts The New Disruptors, a podcast about connecting creators and makers to their audiences, and writes as “G.F.” at the Economist's Babbage blog. He is a regular panel member on the geeky media podcast The Incomparable. In October 2012, Glenn won Jeopardy! twice.

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Rhonan

To not comment one’s code brings great dishonor to one’s family. As to fearing our code, only weaklings ship buggy code.

To another user: what is this Emacs you speak of? A Klingon warrior only uses vi.
tyger11

“Smile when you run the gagh.”
- Ancient Klingon software development proverb
Anonymous

Yes, you could totally use BBEdit.
Or, you could just take the existing translations of Shakespeare to Klingon that were recently performed at the Washington Shakespeare Company by George Takei… http://wapo.st/a0FufX
Anonymous

What does Ngech mean? I couldn’t find it in a Klingon dictionary…
Griffin

Eh, I like Notepad++ the best of all the ones I’ve used, but vim is pretty good today. Never understand the appeal of emacs. Blegh.
frijole

My program just dumped Sto’Vo’Kor!
Anonymous

I’m so amused. That’s my friend’s car. And, not surprisingly, she was involved in this:

http://therogersrevue.wordpress.com/2011/03/02/washington-shakespeare-companys-by-any-other-name/
Anonymous

A quick Google search says “ngech” is Klingon for “valley” or “woman’s cleavage.” Can someone who knows Klingon confirm?
Alpha Omicron

I’ll confirm that ngech means valley literally, or cleavage metaphorically.
mdl4

I turn to BBEdit for all my editing needs it’s great! The functionality is advanced. The performance, bar none. That’s why it’s the leading professional HTML and text editor for the Macintosh! Specifically crafted in response to the needs of Web authors and software developers, this award-winning product provides an abundance of high-performance features for editing, searching, and manipulation of text.

What a great product and a great advertisement. Klingons haha!
tylerkaraszewski

Sometimes I feel like the last Vim user in a sea of Emacs users. And apparently the occasional BBEdit person.
- Glenn Fleishman
  
  I still heart vim, but BBEdit Projects with SFTP support has mostly had me leave that nest.