# Does Cubing count as a language?



## Luigimamo (Apr 27, 2010)

Does cubing count as a fully fledged langauage?
By this I mean the sets of notation that we have learned, eg. 2x2 - 7x7, Square 1, Skewb anything puzzle that requires notation.
Sorry if this is a dumb question.


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## Zane_C (Apr 27, 2010)

I don't think so.


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## qqwref (Apr 27, 2010)

Nope. There's no grammar, syntax, vocabulary, etc. and you can't use it to express arbitrary concepts (just algs).


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## Edward (Apr 27, 2010)

Not really. Its more like a code.


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## Luigimamo (Apr 27, 2010)

Damn I was looking foward to knowing two languages!


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## joey (Apr 27, 2010)

i dont even


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## Stefan (Apr 27, 2010)

Depends on what you mean with "fully fledged". It *is* a language (or languages), yes.


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## Bryan (Apr 27, 2010)

Luigimamo said:


> Does cubing count as a fully fledged langauage?
> By this I mean the sets of notation that we have learned, eg. 2x2 - 7x7, Square 1, Skewb anything puzzle that requires notation.
> Sorry if this is a dumb question.



Please state this in "cube" and you'll have your answer.


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## Escher (Apr 27, 2010)

StefanPochmann said:


> Depends on what you mean with "fully fledged". It *is* a language (or languages), yes.



Could you define 'language', for clarity?


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## riffz (Apr 27, 2010)

"A language is a system of symbols for encoding and decoding information."

-Wikipedia


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## Luigimamo (Apr 27, 2010)

riffz said:


> "A language is a system of symbols for encoding and decoding information."
> 
> -Wikipedia



Based on this (above) information, you could call cubing a language. 
The information being moves/turns being encoded to a shorter version.
Even though the symbols are ripped off from english I think you could call this a language.


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## Stefan (Apr 27, 2010)

Escher said:


> StefanPochmann said:
> 
> 
> > Depends on what you mean with "fully fledged". It *is* a language (or languages), yes.
> ...



http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Language#Formal_languages
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Formal_language

"A formal language is a set of words, i.e. finite strings of letters, symbols, or tokens."

For example, { cubing, is, cool } is a language. Not a particularly useful or interesting one, but a language nonetheless.

For cubing, let's say just basic 3x3x3 notation, you could use {U,D,L,R,F,B,',2, } or {U,U',U2,D,D',D2,...} as alphabet, our algorithms would be words (strings) of these symbols following certain rules, and the language would be the set of all these algorithms.


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## Bryan (Apr 27, 2010)

riffz said:


> "A language is a system of symbols for encoding and decoding information."
> 
> -Wikipedia



By this definition, a stoplight is a language. But when he puts "fully fledged" in there, he's obviously wanting something more.


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## hyunchoi98 (Apr 27, 2010)

It is a language.
Not a complete one.

And there could be spelling mistakes.
like Ui instead of U' (some people say Ui is correct but whatever)

Alphabet:
U, D, L, B, R, F, i, ', u, d, l, b, r, f, /, (, ), etc.


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## TheBB (Apr 27, 2010)

Luigimamo said:


> Damn I was looking foward to knowing two languages!



You could, you know... actually learn another one.


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## Stefan (Apr 27, 2010)

hyunchoi98 said:


> It is a language.
> Not a complete one.


What is a "complete" language? Please link to a definition.



hyunchoi98 said:


> And there could be spelling mistakes.
> like Ui instead of U' (some people say Ui is correct but whatever)


Yeah right, "Mond" (German for "moon") is a spelling mistake. You make a lot of sense.


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## Lux Aeterna (Apr 27, 2010)

StefanPochmann said:


> hyunchoi98 said:
> 
> 
> > It is a language.
> ...



I hate to shoot down hyunchoi, but here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Completeness (see "expressively complete", the only notion that makes any sense to apply here)

What he's trying to say is that it's a silly "language", because it has no usefulness outside of expressing cube algorithms. However, as that is its only intended use, yes, it's complete. But then why bother calling it a language? That seems to be nothing but misleading, as when most people hear the word "language" they certainly don't think of formal languages, they think of natural languages.

Based on his post, I think he wants a "complete language" to be a language in which every meaningful proposition is expressible -- but of course there are no such languages, formal or otherwise...


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## kunz (Apr 27, 2010)

hyunchoi98 said:


> It is a language.
> Not a complete one.
> 
> And there could be spelling mistakes.
> ...



also w, M, E, S, X, Y, Z


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## Owen (Apr 27, 2010)

It's a language, but not one for talking, but for cubing. Just like HTML is a language for web design.


There are different dialects too.

3x3: R, D, B, L, F, U, M, E, S, x, y, z, R', D', B', L', U', F', , M', E', S', x', y', z', R2, D2, B2, L2, U2, F2, M2, E2, S2, x2, y2, z2, r, l, u, d, f, b, r', l', u', d', f', b'.

Pyraminx: R, L, U, F, R', L', U', F', r, l, u, f, r', l', u', f'...

Basically, there are normal moves, inverted moves, small moves, half-turns, slice moves, and cube rotations. You can mix and match too. (e.i. 180 slice moves). 

More later, but I have too go. 

I <3 notation.


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## trying-to-speedcube... (Apr 27, 2010)

LOL!!! OMG WOW HAHA!!! WTF!!! LOL WOW HAHA!!! WTF HAHA WTF LOL HAHA  WTF OMG HAHA YEEEEEEEEEEEES XD OMG!!! WOO-HOO!!! WOW HAHA WOW!!! !!!


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## DaijoCube (Apr 27, 2010)

riffz said:


> "A language is a system of symbols for encoding and decoding information."
> 
> -Wikipedia


This.

It is a ''language'', sort of. When I read the scrambles, I no longer need to ''translate it''. Well, if cubing has its language, we must say music too. Reading a music chart is the same kind of language related to cubing.

Talking about this, someone should REALLY make a thread called ''Cubing Vocabulary'' or something because there are MANY MANY abreviations that are difficult to understand even when you are an advanced cubers. Cube types, abreviations like : PLL, OLL, CFOP, AUF, F2L, Roux and ZZ solving steps, PB.

Maybe some were not created for cubing and already existed in English, but for other people from non-english country/regions can find them hard to get.


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## qqwref (Apr 27, 2010)

I don't think we're talking about formal languages here. Considering it's defined as basically "any finite or infinite set of words" it's definitely not what we want. The OP is talking about languages in the sense of spoken languages (a communication system). In linguistics, the properties of language (see wikipedia), along with their relevance to cubing notation, include:
- arbitrary symbols and meanings (arguable)
- words refer to things or concepts (yes)
- any concept can be talked about in the language (nope)
- there is a process by which the society assigns meaning; individuals can't (yes)

I would say that cubing notation does not fall under language in the informal or linguistic sense, but rather it is a notation in the same sense as music notation, chemical formulae, Z notation, etc. It is a shorthand used for writing something from a specific and restrictive set of concepts.


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## Carrot (Apr 27, 2010)

trying-to-speedcube... said:


> LOL!!! OMG WOW HAHA!!! WTF!!! LOL WOW HAHA!!! WTF HAHA WTF LOL HAHA  WTF OMG HAHA YEEEEEEEEEEEES XD OMG!!! WOO-HOO!!! WOW HAHA WOW!!! !!!



Derrick Eide language!!! =D


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## Dene (Apr 27, 2010)

lolthread.


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## jms_gears1 (Apr 27, 2010)

heythereimbenihazfasttimezthisishowmylangwageworkzandwhatnotdidyouknowcubingisalangwageimtiredzzzzzzzzzzzzzziwantcubefasternessihaveayellowphone.

thats my alphabet for the language im working on. Does that count?


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## megaminxwin (Apr 28, 2010)

DaijoCube said:


> Talking about this, someone should REALLY make a thread called ''Cubing Vocabulary'' or something because there are MANY MANY abreviations that are difficult to understand even when you are an advanced cubers.



POOF!


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## Forte (Apr 28, 2010)

Odder said:


> trying-to-speedcube... said:
> 
> 
> > LOL!!! OMG WOW HAHA!!! WTF!!! LOL WOW HAHA!!! WTF HAHA WTF LOL HAHA  WTF OMG HAHA YEEEEEEEEEEEES XD OMG!!! WOO-HOO!!! WOW HAHA WOW!!! !!!
> ...



MATYAS!


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## Thomas09 (Apr 28, 2010)

Owen said:


> It's a language, but not one for talking, but for cubing. Just like HTML is a language for web design.
> 
> 
> There are different dialects too.
> ...


That's what you call terminology.


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## VP7 (Apr 28, 2010)

Extra credit for the people that can explain the following.

CF CR CU

..F ..B ..L ..R ..U ..D


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## Carrot (Apr 28, 2010)

Forte said:


> Odder said:
> 
> 
> > trying-to-speedcube... said:
> ...



WTF!!! LOL MATYAS HAHA!!!


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## Sin-H (Apr 28, 2010)

Dene said:


> lolthread.


but... but... I wanted to say that :O


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## PatrickJameson (Apr 28, 2010)




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## Thompson (Apr 28, 2010)

(M2UM2U2M2UM2)EY (RUR'U'R'FR2U'R'U'RUR'F')(M2UM2U2M2UM2)ERE

I tried.


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## Carrot (Apr 28, 2010)

Thompson said:


> (M2UM2U2M2UM2)EY (RUR'U'R'FR2U'R'U'RUR'F')(M2UM2U2M2UM2)ERE
> 
> I tried.



(R' U R' U' B' D B' D' B2 R' B' R B R)(R' U R' U' B' D B' D' B2 R' B' R B R)(M2 U M2 U2 M2 U M2)(R' F R' B2 R F' R' B2 R2)(R U R' U' R' F R2 U' R' U' R U R' F')???


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## a small kitten (Apr 28, 2010)

You guys don't have an S. We really need an S perm.


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## Pembo (Apr 28, 2010)

a small kitten said:


> You guys don't have an S. We really need an S perm.



S(eventies) Perm?


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## DaijoCube (Apr 28, 2010)

lol'D


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