Ruby. By far the language I'm the most productive with.
Ask HN: If you could only code with one language which would it be?
11–20 of 53 posts
Re: Ask HN: If you could only code with one language which would it be?
#12JavaScript - Because it’s on the Web, Phones, Server, Embedded Decices, etc etc.
By having the widest array of hardware devices to build on, I’d have the opportunity to solve the widest scope of problems.
Re: Ask HN: If you could only code with one language which would it be?
#13C, because I care about speed, program size, and multiple CPU architectures.
Or Stackly, a language I've been writing for nearly two years now. Like C, it's performant, compiles to tiny binaries (it maps fairly close to assembly under the hood), but unlike C it has a ref-counting GC, compile-time and runtime type safety.
set [hello] fn 'displayln [Hello, World!]
hello
But then, I've been forced to work with all sorts of estoric languages in my work, from PL1 to FORTH to Brainfuck, so my experience is unlikely to be the norm.
Re: Ask HN: If you could only code with one language which would it be?
#14Python, because it's what I know best and what makes sense to me.
Re: Ask HN: If you could only code with one language which would it be?
#15machine code. because you couldn't extend any higher level language if it needed it, since you wouldn't be able to write assembly >.>. you'd be stuck with 1 system forever, not being able to make use of any new cpu or hardware features etc.
Re: Ask HN: If you could only code with one language which would it be?
#16Common Lisp. Why? [0]
[0]: http://p-cos.blogspot.in/2014/09/why-i-like-common-lisp.html
Common Lisp / Scheme are great to learn about programming languages themselves. think learning about closures in CL vs in ObjC and you will realize how simple concepts become awkward and secondarily builds your taste so you know engineer who prides in knowing C++ complexity is a fucking idiot.
Personally, CL has helped me quickly learn hard subjects (3D graphics), prototype software for open ended problems, etc etc.
And any given day, give me a language with live editing and updates, I hate the edit/compile/test cycle.
Re: Ask HN: If you could only code with one language which would it be?
#17Re: Ask HN: If you could only code with one language which would it be?
#18If this is a desert island-type scenario, haskell.
If I had actual time limits, python.
Re: Ask HN: If you could only code with one language which would it be?
#19PHP, because it is simple, powerful, has bindings for everything, and the largest community with huge projects like Wordpress and Drupal. I know it isn't as trendy as python but all of the arguments made so far for python apply to php as well, and php is older and more widespread.
Re: Ask HN: If you could only code with one language which would it be?
#20I'm a recent convert to the Church of Kotlin.
If you know Java, it takes a week or so before you're comfortable, and after that it's magical. All of the boilerplate, all of the tiny little frustrations and bad ergonomics, are just gone.
IntelliJ is a fantastic IDE, too, and I didn't bother picking it up until I started playing with Kotlin.
Kotlin compiles to JVM bytecode, and it runs everywhere I'm currently deploying applications. It can be mixed in with existing Java baselines, and interoperability is almost perfect.
Kotlin also cross-compiles to Javascript, and there's a new Native target, which I haven't played around with yet, but seems like a decent answer to Go's statically compiled, platform native, single binary output.
Lastly, there's an experimental feature that allows you to write one source base and target native, the JVM, and browsers. That finally gives me a single language that I can run anywhere that isn't Javascript.