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PolyConf 2015 – A multi-disciplinary conference for polyglot programmers

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Re: PolyConf 2015 – A multi-disciplinary conference for polyglot programmers

#51

Post by dagw »

fragmede wrote: post #43
noir-york wrote: post #17

Shouldn't programmers be polyglot by default . It's like saying there is a conference for golfers who play with more than one club!

Only if you think of programming languages as an individual golf-club. Put it this way: Is there a conference for professional basketball, baseball AND ice hockey players? I'm not even aware of anyone who managed to go pro in two of those, not to mention all three. Most programmers have a preferred domain and language. Once you scale past a pet project and have a decently sized team, specializations start to occur, e…

I'm not even aware of anyone who managed to go pro in two of those

There are a handful of athletes that have played both pro football and baseball, Bo Jackson probably being the most famous.

Michael Jordan played pro Baseball and Basketball, but was never a good baseball player

Re: PolyConf 2015 – A multi-disciplinary conference for polyglot programmers

#52

Post by M8 »

mcv wrote: post #20
awjr wrote: post #2

Do people really only programme in one language? The simple act of connecting to a database and retrieving data by definition requires knowledge of 2 languages. What I think people do do, is silo themselves onto specific technology stacks (e.g. Microsoft solutions).

I know a really smart guy who refuses to do anything other than Java. Baffling. I get that he really loves Java, but there's so much other cool stuff out there!

For instance?

Re: PolyConf 2015 – A multi-disciplinary conference for polyglot programmers

#53

Post by M8 »

castell wrote: post #4
awjr wrote: post #2

Do people really only programme in one language? The simple act of connecting to a database and retrieving data by definition requires knowledge of 2 languages. What I think people do do, is silo themselves onto specific technology stacks (e.g. Microsoft solutions).

There are one-stack programmers that use only Java/C# with an ORM and all the SAP ABAP developers. Some seem to prefer such jobs, I am not one of them, but to each his own.

I wish I could just use C#, but unfortunately there is no way to avoid JavaScript these days.

Re: PolyConf 2015 – A multi-disciplinary conference for polyglot programmers

#54

Post by noir-york »

dagw wrote: post #45
noir-york wrote: post #44

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Forcing a tool to do something it was not designed to do adds complexity, maintenance overhead, and is bad engineering.

We're not talking about using a tool for something that it wasn't designed to do, rather using a tool for something it was designed to do, but which might still only be second or third best tool for your particular job. Calling a Common Lisp function from your Rail project might not be the best solution to your problem all things considered even if the Ruby version of that function is both slower and less elegant tha…

In that case it comes down to economics, specifically: do the benefits of using a second or third best tool outweigh the costs of using a tool that is not the ideal. Or would the benefits conferred by using the best tool outweigh the costs.

Re: PolyConf 2015 – A multi-disciplinary conference for polyglot programmers

#55

Post by igravious »

erikb wrote: post #9

What is a Polyglot programmer? A programmer who speaks more than his native language (e.g., for me it's German, English, Chinese)? A programmer who codes in more than one language?

Yeah, the latter.

See here http://www.techrepublic.com/article/developers-are-calling-i... for instance

Or here http://radar.oreilly.com/2013/11/polyglot-programming-what-i...

Basically the big G is your friend?

Re: PolyConf 2015 – A multi-disciplinary conference for polyglot programmers

#56

Post by erikb »

eitally wrote: post #26
erikb wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Shocked? Really? While I'm certainly stronger in one language I'd say it's quite normal to use at least 3 programming languages daily. As a Unix guy it's even more. If I just want to write a Python hello world I need to know some Python, some Bash, some Vimscript, some Terminal I/O. Many of my projects also have Makefiles, additional bash scripts (which includes SED and AWK besides Bash). Interaction with databases,…

I know exactly what you mean and I agree, but your scenario doesn't cover most enterprise web developers, who likely live in Visual Studio or Eclipse/NetBeans/IntelliJ 95% of their day, especially if there's strict separation of duties and they aren't allowed to directly touch the DB server/admin console. I got fed up with this state of affairs a few years ago and stopped looking for .Net or Java developers and start…

Interesting. Haven't thought about this kind of businesses and you're right, there might be many more such developers than people like me.

Re: PolyConf 2015 – A multi-disciplinary conference for polyglot programmers

#57

Post by aaggarwal »

dagw wrote: post #33
aaggarwal wrote: post #21

Can someone help me understand how is the polyglot approach to software development different from normal software development?

Polyglot approach involves picking the 'best' language for each micro-task and then trying to get them all to interact and play nicely to each other. The more 'normal' approach is to pick 1-3 languages that are "good enough" at all the necessary tasks.

But then wouldn't this require a bigger team with vast expertise or a lot of time compared to a more normal approach, and it will only result in marginal performance improvement, which might not be important in most of the regular projects?

Re: PolyConf 2015 – A multi-disciplinary conference for polyglot programmers

#58

Post by henderson101 »

pjmlp wrote: post #15
awjr wrote: post #2

Do people really only programme in one language? The simple act of connecting to a database and retrieving data by definition requires knowledge of 2 languages. What I think people do do, is silo themselves onto specific technology stacks (e.g. Microsoft solutions).

I never understood how it could be otherwise. Back when I was learning, I had Timex 2068 Basic and Z80. Then at technical school, each class had its own programming language. Followed by CS degree, with loads of programming languages. First job, TCL, C, C++, JavaScript, C#, Java, SQL dialects. Every single job afterwards required proficiency in multiple languages, even JVM/.NET (interaction with OS, languages that ta…

cough Sinclair Basic ;-)

Timex's Basic really only added a few extra commands (on err, stick, delete, free, reset and sound IIRC.) Everything else was identical.

Re: PolyConf 2015 – A multi-disciplinary conference for polyglot programmers

#59

Post by fragmede »

jawns wrote: post #36

Did anybody else read through the (English language) conference website for the (presumably English language) conference, and wonder to themselves, "Why ... Poland?" I'm not knocking Poland, but it seems strange to have an English-language conference there and not offer anything in the way of explanation for the choice. I mean, I'm sure there is a reasonable explanation (central location, picturesque setting, low cos…

LWN has a nice list of upcoming conferences, note that not all of them are held in English speaking countries:

http://lwn.net/Articles/646594/

Re: PolyConf 2015 – A multi-disciplinary conference for polyglot programmers

#60

Post by [deleted] »

fragmede wrote: post #43
noir-york wrote: post #17

Shouldn't programmers be polyglot by default . It's like saying there is a conference for golfers who play with more than one club!

Only if you think of programming languages as an individual golf-club. Put it this way: Is there a conference for professional basketball, baseball AND ice hockey players? I'm not even aware of anyone who managed to go pro in two of those, not to mention all three. Most programmers have a preferred domain and language. Once you scale past a pet project and have a decently sized team, specializations start to occur, e…

[deleted]
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