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Learn more programming languages, even if you won't use them

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Re: Learn more programming languages, even if you won't use them

#11

Post by walterstucco »

zcw100 wrote: post #7

I’m getting tired of this. Yes I see the benefit of knowing multiple languages but let’s look at the other side of that coin. There’s the dev that is familiar with a dozen languages and writes terrible code in all of them. When exactly are we supposed to be learning all these languages? Nights and weekends that effectively has you working 24/7? Or more likely some developer that has a personal relationship with the C…

You can't say that that Dev writes terrible code in all of them, unless you master all of them

Re: Learn more programming languages, even if you won't use them

#12

Post by scarejunba »

zcw100 wrote: post #7

I’m getting tired of this. Yes I see the benefit of knowing multiple languages but let’s look at the other side of that coin. There’s the dev that is familiar with a dozen languages and writes terrible code in all of them. When exactly are we supposed to be learning all these languages? Nights and weekends that effectively has you working 24/7? Or more likely some developer that has a personal relationship with the C…

Jesus Christ, man, I think that team was going to fail anyway. That's super dysfunctional and the languages thing seems like a very small deal.

Re: Learn more programming languages, even if you won't use them

#13

Post by platz »

darkhorn wrote: post #9
zcw100 wrote: post #7

I’m getting tired of this. Yes I see the benefit of knowing multiple languages but let’s look at the other side of that coin. There’s the dev that is familiar with a dozen languages and writes terrible code in all of them. When exactly are we supposed to be learning all these languages? Nights and weekends that effectively has you working 24/7? Or more likely some developer that has a personal relationship with the C…

I've learned to code methods in OO languages without using loops after I've learned Erlang. No loops means less bugs.

And none of those OO langs can be relied on to have tail recursion so now you a new problem

Re: Learn more programming languages, even if you won't use them

#14

Post by yomly »

platz wrote: post #13
darkhorn wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've learned to code methods in OO languages without using loops after I've learned Erlang. No loops means less bugs.

And none of those OO langs can be relied on to have tail recursion so now you a new problem

Most non-functional languages will implement map/filter/reduce as loops under the hood, but realizing that there is an abstraction for general sequence processing frees you up to focus more on the core business logic at hand and reduces the surface area of your code for bugs.

Sure, handrolling a loop is a trivial activity that novice programmers can figure out, so you should _never_ get it wrong because you _never_ ever program tired or hurriedly under deadlines or make typos or input off by ones...

Re: Learn more programming languages, even if you won't use them

#15

Post by flohofwoe »

zcw100 wrote: post #7

I’m getting tired of this. Yes I see the benefit of knowing multiple languages but let’s look at the other side of that coin. There’s the dev that is familiar with a dozen languages and writes terrible code in all of them. When exactly are we supposed to be learning all these languages? Nights and weekends that effectively has you working 24/7? Or more likely some developer that has a personal relationship with the C…

IMHO the whole point of learning new programming languages is exactly not to rewrite everything to the latest hipster language on a whim.

Instead this adds new tools to your toolbox, so next time you can choose a tool that's a better match for a problem instead of trying to bend a language that wasn't created to solve such problems.

IMHO having many small specialized "speedboat languages" around which can be learned in a few days to weeks is much better than having a handful huge "oil tanker languages" which eventually become overly complex "jack of all trades, master of none" boondoggles.

Re: Learn more programming languages, even if you won't use them

#16

Post by gdy »

usgroup wrote: post #5

I think there's a bit of a threshold with language learning. When you know a handful (or just theo necessary ones for your job), there is probably a bit of tendency to be religious about your "stack". When you know a few more than you need, then you're driven to pick between them for any given thing. Then, you start picking languages you don't know and learning them to do some thing you need done, and so on. I wrote…

"Here are the languages and DSLs that ended up in the mix: cron, Makefile, bash, sed, regex, jq query, python, R, sql, nginx conf"

And also anyone who could replace you will have to know all these languages. Nice approach to job security.

Re: Learn more programming languages, even if you won't use them

#17

Post by tluyben2 »

zcw100 wrote: post #7

I’m getting tired of this. Yes I see the benefit of knowing multiple languages but let’s look at the other side of that coin. There’s the dev that is familiar with a dozen languages and writes terrible code in all of them. When exactly are we supposed to be learning all these languages? Nights and weekends that effectively has you working 24/7? Or more likely some developer that has a personal relationship with the C…

But this is also to do that many people do not see developing software as a career; more something they happen to be ok at and it makes a bucket load of money. If it's a career, like I decided to make of it when I was 16, you can be an actual senior in a number of languages. I feel equally secure writing large codebases/projects in quite a substantial number of languages after 30 years of learning different languages and environments and having and worked on many large and different projects using different languages.

It is quite different for someone who is 25 and does not get enthusiastic about spending a lot more years in the field; why would you then learn a lot of different languages? It makes more money, short term(!), being good at one language just jumping up the ladder as fast as you can using that.

Re: Learn more programming languages, even if you won't use them

#18

Post by orangeshark »

zcw100 wrote: post #7

I’m getting tired of this. Yes I see the benefit of knowing multiple languages but let’s look at the other side of that coin. There’s the dev that is familiar with a dozen languages and writes terrible code in all of them. When exactly are we supposed to be learning all these languages? Nights and weekends that effectively has you working 24/7? Or more likely some developer that has a personal relationship with the C…

>When exactly are we supposed to be learning all these languages?

Some argue that as a professional, you should be spending time outside of work learning to improve your career. You can't expect your employer to give you time to learn.

I find it can be difficult though, especially when you want to spend your time outside of work on other things like family and hobbies.

Re: Learn more programming languages, even if you won't use them

#19

Post by gexla »

zcw100 wrote: post #7

I’m getting tired of this. Yes I see the benefit of knowing multiple languages but let’s look at the other side of that coin. There’s the dev that is familiar with a dozen languages and writes terrible code in all of them. When exactly are we supposed to be learning all these languages? Nights and weekends that effectively has you working 24/7? Or more likely some developer that has a personal relationship with the C…

> When exactly are we supposed to be learning all these languages? Nights and weekends that effectively has you working 24/7?

By that logic, you might ask how we have time to do anything? How do we find time to eat? How do we find time for HN?

Learning a programming language doesn't have to mean mastering the language. Make a game out of it. Pick one "thing" about the language and spend 15 minutes on reading / practice on that thing. Make an Anki card (or multiple cards) on that thing and run through the deck for some other 15 period "learning" break. Maybe this doesn't work for you either, but it's something else you can try other than chaining yourself to your computer until you come out a master.

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