Computers have one big problem—they do not comprehend English, nor in fact any other human language. Strictly speaking, the central processing unit (CPU) of a computer only understands its own machine language, the vocabulary of which is given by its instruction set. The machine language of a CPU is extremely rudimentary, of perhaps the same level of sophistication as the limited language of commands used to order a trained dog to perform certain actions like bark, run, fetch, etc. Such a language is simply incapable of expressing the vast majority of concepts, ideas, and abstractions that the human mind in all its ingenuity comes up with.

Therefore, it is not difficult to see why it is necessary for there to be some way in which the concepts and procedures created in the human mind and expressed in human language can be reduced in level to the...