111–120 of 366 posts
I didn't see my option on the list. My dislike for the abomination that makefiles are made of knows no bounds. Most of the languages above I can avoid (I simply don't use the languages I don't like), but I curse every time I have to open a makefile, because I know how painful it's going to be. (makefiles are turing complete, so I think it qualifies as a programming language)
Easily C# and Java, I don't think the virtual machine adds anything other than another abstraction layer to get in the way. Just because code is native doesn't mean you can't have all sorts of built in bounds checking to ensure safety, but when you're in a VM, taking off the training wheels when you need to actually make shit fast is such a pain. I especially don't understand the point of a VM like the CLR that only…
My vote for Perl
I am surprised by ActionScript being high on the list. It gives you everything that is very decent about JavaScript, with the classical OO that everyone seems to love. If you do any Java or Python, you should be able to get right into AS
That sounds weird, given that Java and Python are almost antitheses of each other. So ActionScript somehow manages to meet two entirely different philosophies in the middle?
In ActionScript everything is an Java-like object. Adobe decided to implement the unfinished ES5 draft where you have JavaScript with "classes," they also put the Java-like limitations of one class per file/package, and having classes do almost everything (instead of functions). If a Java gal went to AS she'd, optionally, want to incorporate closures as a tool.
You can approach Python lot like you would JavaScript -- some functions, some classes, passing around functions/classes as arguments, closures, etc. (I bet that I could replace my JS with Python pretty easily if browsers supported it). If a Python guy goes to AS all he'd really have to do is add types, put every class in its own file, and drop functions (in a few cases).
I wouldnt necessarily say that it meshes the two together, but I do feel that anyone who is comfortable with either Java or Python could be very productive with Actionscript in a short time because of how tightly loose it is, lol.
Javascript because I just don't have the choice to not use it.
You have to stop worrying and learn to love the bomb ;p In all seriousness, I feel that a lot of people(me included) go through a period of hate for javascript until they find that it's actually has some impressive expressiveness using very small set of things.
1. Ordinary people trying to get something done. Often not professional programmers. These people account for most JS on the internet.
2. JS hipsters. The kind of people who use Node.js and worship Crockford. They refuse to accept that anybody might want to use a language other than JS on the web, or that if you only accept the "Good Parts", you'll be set for life (where's my static typing, bitch?).
Languages are as much people as they are technology. I use Python because I like the people who use Python. I use Haskell because the people who use Haskell are really gentle and humble.
Good, reasoned people lead to good, reasoned code. I don't see that with the JS community.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I refute that Fortran is axiomatically worse than Java. I've spent a few years working in each, so I got to know them decently well. Fortran is like C with great math support; that is to say, C is like Fortran with great systems facilities. In each language's domain, it is more expressive and more performant than Java. Outside its domain, you don't want a bad programmer going near it for too long, but you can absolut…
The issue is that both C (portable assembler) and Fortran (portable math library) solve some problem pretty well. What problem is it that Java solves well? That is what makes java such a shitty language to program in, for any particular problem you encounter there are much better languages to solve that problem in, C# comes to mind immediately as to what Java should be. Note: Yes I realize that Java has excellent cro…
I've been on python projects that need to grow but struggle b/c all the things that make it easy to get a lot done the first few weeks become liabilities very soon. Adding developers to a project that doesn't declare types and encourages just passing around hashmaps is brutal. All the stuff you can't do in Java makes it easy for someone else to understand it and edit it.
I would believe that C# might be a bit better but only being fully supported on MS is a non-starter for many server side situations.
You missed the worst one in the world - Mumps (or M). Terrible language that produces (seemingly automatically) terrible software. It also rots the brains of those that are forced to use it. All of those listed have their charms - seems hard to dislike them in the main.
MUMPS still has a healthy user base at that. MGH is obviously a large user base (interview with a hospital in Boston and it'll eventually come up in conversation), but the fun is when you get into the dialects of it. For example, MEDITECH has their own dialect named MAGIC, and at least one of their employees has attempted to make things better. I should try to get him to post to talk about it, but he created an objec…
I spent a few months writing reports in MEDITECH and their macro language is a variant of MAGIC. Documentation is a closely guarded secret but you can get a taste of what it looks like here: http://www.99-bottles-of-beer.net/language-meditech-magic-38...
I don't expect that the responses to this will be enlightening. In fact, I can predict right now that the winner of this poll will be the most commonly-used language which isn't widely considered to be "nice". Depending on the precise demographics of this site, that's either going to be Java, C++ or Javascript, despite the fact that there are clearly worse languages out there (Fortran, COBOL, Brainfuck...) The reason…
I refute that Fortran is axiomatically worse than Java. I've spent a few years working in each, so I got to know them decently well. Fortran is like C with great math support; that is to say, C is like Fortran with great systems facilities. In each language's domain, it is more expressive and more performant than Java. Outside its domain, you don't want a bad programmer going near it for too long, but you can absolut…
