  The use of programming languages can wax and wane across the decades. We
examine the split-apply- combine pattern that is common in statistical
computing, and consider how its invocation or implementation in languages like
MATLAB and APL differ from R/dplyr. The differences in spelling illustrate how
the concept of linguistic relativity applies to programming languages in ways
that are analogous to human languages. Finally, we discuss how Julia, by being
a high performance yet general purpose dynamic language, allows its users to
express different abstractions to suit individual preferences.
