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Ask HN: How do you choose languages for building applications?

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Re: Ask HN: How do you choose languages for building applications?

#41
For a professional/work context, I think this is mostly a human (rather than tech. decision). What languages are the team comfortable in? Where is talent available etc.

If you're in services, then the general demands of the market/your niche are important factors.

For completely personal projects, if you're trying to learn language X, use X. If you're trying to build a project for some reason, then use the language you're most familiar with.

Re: Ask HN: How do you choose languages for building applications?

#42
* Which languages suits the problem as of 2025? (About all: performance, deployability, ecosystem.)

* Which languages I know (or are willing to learn) - and so do my collaborators?

All in all, it is if a language gets job done within constrains. Everything else id details.

Re: Ask HN: How do you choose languages for building applications?

#44

Simple — Rust for everything except Typescript for browser/mobile and Python for scripting.

Could you recommend a good pure rust library for writing an embedded UI for the SG2002 LicheeRV Nano - similar to LVGL?

Not sure it will work for you, but have you looked into slint?

Re: Ask HN: How do you choose languages for building applications?

#45

I usually use some obscure dialect of Brainf*k, this means: - Everyone thinks I'm smart, - The client has to return to me for the simplest changes ($$$), - I get paid to practice my favourite language,

True.

https://github.com/bf-enterprise-solutions

Re: Ask HN: How do you choose languages for building applications?

#46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Could you recommend a good pure rust library for writing an embedded UI for the SG2002 LicheeRV Nano - similar to LVGL?

Not sure it will work for you, but have you looked into slint?

That's the first "to try" on my list - but I just wanted to ask, if it is any good :-)

Re: Ask HN: How do you choose languages for building applications?

#47

Company / professional context: Step 1: Raise your eyes above the computer monitor in front of you. What is the team / company already using? What will they likely be using in one year from now? Step 2: Ask yourself honestly without "I wish I could and I wish I would" - can the problem be solved using the tech that the team / company already has invested in? Step 3: Make decisions. Default to the answer in Step 1, bu…

my team are familiar with python, but i am not, so i decided to take an opportunity to learn this language, although, i prefer to use go because it's lightweight and simple.

at home i built my application using go. i also want to learn rust and elixir, but honestly i am not sure why i should learn both of them. i think language programming are just tools but they have their own advantages. also, learning other languages helps me become a better engineer.

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