121: What could be more suitable for Chapter 121 than Chinese?

Lin Yuan pushed open the conference room door and stepped out.

Qin Meng followed silently, half a step behind.

The air in the corridor still held the lingering warmth from the gathering of over a hundred people just moments ago, but it was already mostly empty now.

Those who had received the technical materials were more eager than anyone else.

Lin Yuan stuffed his right hand into his trouser pocket, the black canvas bag on his left shoulder swaying slightly at his waist with his relaxed gait.

He raised his wrist to check his watch; it was still early, just past ten in the morning.

This meeting had ended more efficiently than expected.

Everything that needed to be explained had been covered, and all that remained was for the various units to return and tackle the tough challenges ahead.

Lin Yuan thought for a moment, then turned and headed toward the AI Algorithm Deduction Zone deep on the first floor of Research Building No. 7.

As soon as he stepped into the glass partition of the AI Algorithm Deduction Zone, he saw that it was already a hive of activity inside.

Yang Lin's lean frame stood at the very front, directing several key technical personnel in connecting wires and debugging the reading equipment.

He held the hard drive containing the core technology for Brain-like Bionic Computing with both hands, as if he were cradling a gold ingot.

Hearing the commotion, Yang Lin turned his head.

Seeing it was Lin Yuan, a grin spread across his face.

"Chief Engineer Lin!"

The surrounding technical personnel who were busy working also stopped what they were doing and looked toward the door in unison.

"Hello, Chief Engineer Lin."

"Chief Engineer Lin."

Greetings rang out one after another.

Lin Yuan waved his hand, signaling everyone to continue their work, while he walked leisurely with his hands behind his back to where Yang Lin stood.

Yang Lin carefully placed the hard drive on the anti-static mat next to the secure computer, clapped his hands, and looked Lin Yuan over.

"Chief Engineer Lin, what brings you here?"

"What's the matter, are you worried about us?"

Lin Yuan chuckled, neither denying nor confirming, simply tilting his chin toward the hard drive.

"This core technology for Brain-like Bionic Computing is a bit advanced."

"So I came over to take a look, in case there's anything that needs clarification in person."

Yang Lin gave an "Oh," crossed his arms over his chest, and curled the corner of his mouth upward.

"Advanced?"

He rubbed his chin, looking intrigued.

"Well, now I'm looking forward to it, to see just how advanced this technology really is."

As he spoke, Yang Lin tilted his head at Lin Yuan.

"But with you here to supervise and guide us, we aren't afraid of not being able to absorb it, no matter how advanced it is."

Several members of the R&D team nearby also smiled and nodded in agreement.

"Exactly, with Chief Engineer Lin in charge, we feel at ease."

"It was the same last time when we were working on the Photolithography Machine; a word from Chief Engineer Lin was more effective than us chewing on the materials for three days."

Lin Yuan didn't respond to the flattery, simply gesturing toward the secure computer.

"Don't just stand there, plug it in and take a look."

Yang Lin acknowledged, turned, picked up the hard drive, and steadily inserted it into the encrypted port of the secure computer.

Identity authentication.

Fingerprint verification.

Iris scan.

The three verification procedures finished in sequence, and a dark gray file directory popped up on the screen.

Yang Lin pulled up a chair and sat down, double-clicking the directory with his mouse.

The first file was opened.

Dense technical documentation spread out across the high-resolution large screen.

Yang Lin's gaze swept over the architecture overview on the first page, his finger flicked the mouse wheel twice, and he began to scroll down.

The several technical personnel standing behind him also craned their necks to get a better look at the screen.

At first, everyone's attention was focused on the hardware mapping framework for the Brain-like neurons, muttering technical jargon under their breath.

Then, when he flipped to the third page, Yang Lin's hand stopped.

The mouse wheel stopped moving.

He stared at the screen, blinking twice.

He rubbed his eyes and leaned closer to the screen to take another look.

He froze in his chair.

The technical personnel behind him also sensed that something was wrong. They followed Yang Lin's gaze to the large block of code in the center of the screen, stared for two seconds, and froze in unison.

Because the lines of code neatly arranged on the screen... were Chinese!

Rows of clear, rigorously structured Chinese code instructions sat quietly on the dark background of the editor.

There were none of the English syntax keywords that programmers all over the world knew by heart.

In their place was an instruction system built entirely from Chinese.

Yang Lin stared at the screen, his Adam's apple bobbing hard.

He had spent more than half his life working on automated control and underlying algorithms. From the earliest assembly, to C, to C++, to Python... it was all English.

The entire edifice of computer science, from the very first day of its birth, had been built brick by brick using English.

The compilers were in English, the syntax was in English, even the error messages were in English.

For over half a century, this had been the default, unshakeable industry iron law for programmers worldwide.

But now, in this core technical material from Lin Yuan in front of him, the underlying code... was in Chinese.

Yang Lin slowly turned his head. He looked at Lin Yuan, who was standing to his side and behind him, hands in his pockets, looking relaxed.

His brain was racing. What did Lin Yuan say just now? A bit advanced?

You call this a bit advanced?! This isn't just advanced, this is upending the entire underlying logic of the programming world!

"Chief Engineer Lin." Yang Lin's throat felt tight. "Is this... really Chinese programming?"

Lin Yuan took two steps closer and glanced sideways at the code on the screen. "Naturally."

Yang Lin opened his mouth, then closed it. The layout and logical structure of these Chinese code lines in front of him didn't match any programming language he knew.

This wasn't just a simple translation of keywords. Those so-called "Chinese programming languages," to put it plainly, were nothing more than English keywords with a layer of Chinese translation on the surface. Same medicine, different bottle.

But this thing on the screen now... from the underlying syntax logic to the high-level calling paradigm, it was all brand new.

Lin Yuan leaned against the edge of a workstation table nearby, arms slightly crossed. "Actually, it's not hard to understand."

He tilted his chin toward the screen. "Why must traditional programming use English? Because the underlying layer of traditional computers is Boolean logic, right? 0 and 1, on and off, black and white."

Yang Lin nodded subconsciously. "English syntax structure is naturally adapted to this kind of linear, deterministic logic. Subject-verb-object, conditional clauses, relative pronouns, layer upon layer, strict and rigid."

Lin Yuan raised his right hand and tapped his temple lightly with his index finger. "But Brain-like is different."

"The core of Brain-like Bionic Computing lies in the words 'Brain-like.' Its underlying layer is no longer logic gates of '0 and 1,' but rather simulates the connection method of biological neuron synapses, using signal weights and pulse frequencies to process information."

"Under this architecture, the computer is no longer 'parsing syntax,' it is 'understanding semantics.'"

Yang Lin's breathing suddenly deepened, and his body leaned forward involuntarily.

Lin Yuan's finger drew a circle in the air. "When the underlying architecture changes from 'parsing syntax' to 'understanding semantics,' the selection criteria for programming languages change completely."

"It's no longer about whose syntax is more standardized, more linear, or easier for the compiler to disassemble. It's about whose semantic density is higher, whose unit information carrying capacity is greater, and who is closer to the natural thinking patterns of the human brain."

He paused for a beat. "In Chinese, one character is one semantic unit. Each character carries its own complete meaning, without the need for extra affixes and prepositions to assist."

"Whereas in English, an action often has to be broken down into several words, added with tense changes and prepositional collocations, just to piece together a complete meaning."

"On traditional computers, this redundancy doesn't matter; the machine is just parsing character by character. But on a Brain-like architecture..."

Lin Yuan looked at Yang Lin. "The machine is truly 'understanding.'"

"Because the way a Brain-like system processes information, just like the human brain, relies on contextual inference and semantic association."

"The high-density, high-flexibility, context-dependent expression style of Chinese is naturally compatible with the underlying logic of Brain-like systems."

Yang Lin froze there, motionless. He had been working in technology for decades and had never thought about programming languages from this perspective.

Chinese is the language with the highest semantic density in the world, bar none. For the same piece of information, the number of characters required to express it in Chinese is far less than in English, and the layers of meaning carried by a single Chinese character are far richer than a single English word.

This is a disadvantage in traditional programming. Because computers don't need to "understand," they only need to execute mechanically.

But Brain-like computing requires exactly that—"understanding"! When the underlying hardware itself is simulating the semantic processing mode of the human brain, the highly compressed information structure of Chinese, with its polysemous characters, becomes an overwhelming advantage!

Yang Lin's Adam's apple bobbed violently, and a surge of heat welled up in his chest.

The technical personnel behind him were also stunned, each of them staring at the neat Chinese code on the screen, their lips trembling slightly.

Lin Yuan watched their reaction and smiled. He straightened up from the edge of the workstation, put his hands back into his trouser pockets, and cast one last glance at the neat Chinese code on the screen.

"So, Director Yang, tell me—what could be more suitable than Chinese as the native language for Brain-like Intelligence?"