31–40 of 75 posts
LISP/Scala/Clojure/Erlang/Haskell/Prolog
Python/Perl/PHP/Ruby
Java/Javascript/C/C++/Go
For extra credits one from:
FORTH/Smalltalk
That should get you enough of a grip to pick up the remainder easily and when needed.
Tie between Elixir (because scripting language that runs on Erlang BEAM), and Javascript (because it is so ubiquitous, despite having so many bad parts - though it has a fair share of good parts too).
Java - Because it is the modern COBOL...everyone hates it, but there are so many systems and shops that use Java that it becomes a de factor requirement to learn it.
Close runners up are:
* Clojure - Because it is based on Scheme, which is based on Lisp, and takes the functional approach. * Python - Because the philosophy and syntax are beautiful * Ruby - Because it is really fast to get web server stuff done
And the winner is.... Javascript. Makes sense if you want to write code on the platform(s) that reaches the most people you have no choice. It's telling that its not about the language but how you can use it.
I think I've used Javascript once in the past 10 years or so. I work on all sorts of interesting stuff in five languages (C++, Rust, Python, Lua, Swift), just not on the web.
With clojure/JVM, you get a Lisp as well as good knowledge of java interop / apis, so you'll be able to work in Java if you have to, plus you get all the java libs, and there's basically a java lib for anything you could ever want to do.
Then I'd make sure you know JavaScript, its gotten to be a good enough general purpose scripting language, plus you'll be able to do anything you want browser side with it.
As your third I'd pick C since basically every other modern language / OS / low level lib is built on top of it. But it depends on how much you want/need to go down to that level. If you're just going to be doing web/mobile service development I might say go with something like Go, since it'll be more practical there.
- C - Python - JavaScript This is, of course, only based off of what I know so far and what I would find most useful. I could probably trade JS for a SQL, though, if I was thinking purely in terms of work that I'm into now. I don't use C at all, except to look at Python bindings occasionally...but all the concepts I've learned from learning C are vital, even when working with high-level languages. Plus, it'd be nice…
i dont think sql counts as language in this context. Its more of an adapter for efficiency for most of the uses its best for. Don't get me wrong, it is a language but not at the layer under discussion.
I don't think there's a reason to be limited to 3 programming languages. Perhaps you can only be fluent in 3 languages at once , but knowing more languages is definitely not harmful. I know more than 10 languages to a degree where I have written at least one non-trivial project with them. I can't claim to be fluent in all of them at this moment, but I can quickly ramp up to a productive level in a matter of a few day…