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Ask HN: Which popular programming languages are you NOT interested in and why?

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Re: Ask HN: Which popular programming languages are you NOT interested in and why?

#31

Post by billconan »

I don't like python, because most of the languages I have used and learned are influenced by the c language. They use similar syntax with parentheses. I like parentheses, because they define narrow logic scopes that help me focus. Python is also not as flexible as javascript, if I need for a dynamically typed language.

I also don't like go, because go forces to put curved bracket on the same line, whereas I use the Allman style everywhere.

With Allman, I can vertically align a pair of brackets, This helps me to see the scope they define.

Re: Ask HN: Which popular programming languages are you NOT interested in and why?

#32

Post by AnimalMuppet »

peteradio wrote: post #30
AnimalMuppet wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Thank you for your charitable interpretation of my qualifications. But, you know, stuff happens. Somebody's machine loses the hard drive; in the process of building the new hard drive, they miss restoring the configuration for their editor. Somebody else installs a new editor, and forgets that configuration matters. A new employee gets hired, and doesn't know either how or why to configure properly. And behold, bugs…

Sorry, I don't mean to even suppose about your qualifications. Most scans will detect mixed tabs/spaces and they don't even make it into the repo. And if it is a continual problem with a particular team member then that has been in my experience a sign that this person doesn't know what the hell they are doing. Again I make no suppositions about your particular qualifications, I apologize.

No big deal. It just rubbed me the wrong way - perhaps more than it should have.

But yes, if you have a team member that repeatedly does this, then there's clearly a problem. If you run a scan that won't let people do this, that's clearly a solution.

Re: Ask HN: Which popular programming languages are you NOT interested in and why?

#33

Post by jolmg »

catacombs wrote: post #10
ps101 wrote: post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't it also kind of dying out in terms of popularity? (I really don't know)

It's slowly being replaced by Python. The only reason to use Ruby nowadays is for Rails.

Ruby is still the language I turn to when I need to write a script and the shell does not suffice. I turn to it before Python because it's more terse while still being very readable.

Re: Ask HN: Which popular programming languages are you NOT interested in and why?

#35

Post by quickthrower2 »

Python and Ruby. I don’t see how you could not want static typing. Not least because of it’s documenting qualities. Otherwise what are we relying on variable and method names to tell us what type something is?! Ha ha.

Lisp OTOH I could forgive the non static typing for the learning opportunity but not sure I’d use lisp for production code for the same reason unless there is a type checker utility.

I’ll put up with JS because of the Web and I can use TS but for server side I won’t use Ruby and Python as I can slot in C# or Java or Haskell and have much better time.

Finally Elm: definitely worth learning but hit its limitations pretty quick. The problem is you have to route everything in your app through their mandated UI pattern (imagine a web app where every piece of state including the currently viewed month of a date picker 20 levels deep HAS to be a React prop on the root object updatable only in in one root place with no abstractions like interfaces or type classes or even hell monkey patching dynamic language stuff to tame this problem).

Re: Ask HN: Which popular programming languages are you NOT interested in and why?

#36

Post by open-source-ux »

bjourne wrote: post #28

Rust and the other new zero cost abstraction languages. Reason being that I think performance is a solved problem. The future is in safety and readability. Not squeezing the last few percent of fps out of your hardware. Go is in the same category. People are inventing better versions of C++ when I want them to invent better versions of Python. :)

"I think performance is a solved problem"

I disagree. In fact, I wish performance was taken more seriously by the programming profession. Some of the most popular languages in wide use today are also the most resource intensive.

When performance is an issue in running programs, a common response is: hardware is cheap, just add another energy-guzzling server or use a more powerful computer.

This attitude is embarrassing when you consider that in every other industry there is a push for reduced resource usage and lower energy consumption. The programming field is the exception.

Re: Ask HN: Which popular programming languages are you NOT interested in and why?

#38

Post by matfil »

Go. I don't feel the need for yet another language without conditional expressions.

(More generally: I'm pretty firmly in the camp of "terse code tends to be easier to read and reason about", and don't want language designers nudging me to break expressions up and name intermediates).

Re: Ask HN: Which popular programming languages are you NOT interested in and why?

#40

Post by acdha »

buboard wrote: post #20
acdha wrote: post #18

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Javascript. There is not much to learn if you come from c. Ah, yes, C, well known for having rich data structures, object orientation, higher-order functions, etc. Even if you weren't conflating rather different languages, JavaScript is inherently interesting for being the only language supported by web browsers and thus being one click away from billions of people. > Python, because ‘the python way’ is just a bunc…

Like i said i use both. But I didn’t find it interesting to learn either.

Fair enough, but just be honest about saying rather than trashing other people's work: JavaScript has a ton to learn which a C programmer will not know, and Python has a history of reasoned decisions.
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