Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

PolyConf 2015 – A multi-disciplinary conference for polyglot programmers

polyconf.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 90 posts

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

#11

Post by Menge »

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).

Formally defining is always tricky. For example, I hate seeing "C/C++" and would assume by proxy of the equally absurd but rarely used "C/Objective-C" that I have magically become a C/Objective-C/C++ programmer.

I would consider a polyglot as able to express a full domain of ideas in multiple languages. (For example, knowing latin for biology or religious recitation doesn't make you a normal polyglot, while being able to use it at the breakfast table does.)

So, only if you are one of the few who regularly enjoys the thrill of forcing SQL to do your general computations, would it count in my book towards making you a polyglot in the context of general purpose computing. Similarly, how you choose to use shells would determine whether they count and whether they are each distinct.

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

#12

Post by s_kilk »

eitally wrote: post #6
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'm shocked you're asking that question. Most programmers are vocational and work for corporations. Most corporations try to force standardization. As a result, most programmers are significantly stronger in one language/platform than any other (whether they have any experience in others or not, which they usually will). As a dumb example, when XMLHTTPREQUEST hit the streets, it was a paradigm shift in enterprise, bu…

> ironically, a lot of "progressive" corporations end up creating mini-Innovation teams internally with their best & brightest, who are told to "act like a startup" and end up basically creating 75% of all the new stuff ... until it requires an interface to a legacy system and the devs outside the team refuse to cooperate out of fear.

I've been in exactly that situation, working on a small 'startup' team inside a large, traditional organisation. The friction between the 'old' and 'new' camps was heartbreaking.

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

#13

Post by petercooper »

Nothing against this conference but on the "now have", aren't things like OSCON or Strange Loop technically multi-language cross-pollinated programming conferences? Or is the way some of the talks are about joining two languages the unique draw?

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

#14

Post by erikb »

eitally wrote: post #6
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'm shocked you're asking that question. Most programmers are vocational and work for corporations. Most corporations try to force standardization. As a result, most programmers are significantly stronger in one language/platform than any other (whether they have any experience in others or not, which they usually will). As a dumb example, when XMLHTTPREQUEST hit the streets, it was a paradigm shift in enterprise, bu…

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, APIs, JSON or XML or INI configs, HTML, etc is also common. And let's not forget that most systems that have grown over the years have a few DSLs to interact with their tools.

So before I finish my first coffee I've probably used 6 languages already on a typical work day. I think most coders in my company are fluent in at least 10 programming (&related) languages. And while our software development team is certainly better than my last gig I still hope it's not the top of what software dev teams can be.

And your most prevalent point is that company enforces some language usage. It's often not the same if you switch. So if you have more than 5 years you probably can increase the typical programming language fluency about 50%.

Also your example about switching stacks. Your first stack had .Net, C#, SQL, JS and JQuery. Now you at least sometimes also use Java, and whatever Bootstrap/Angular require.

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

#15

Post by pjmlp »

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 target those runtimes).

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

#16

Post by maccard »

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 don't work in web development, and write 99.99999% of my code in C++. Every now and again I have to write a config script in batch, but other than that yes

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

#19

Post by jgrahamc »

I did an interview at QCon this year (http://www.infoq.com/interviews/John-Graham-Cumming-Polyglot) where I was specifically asked about 'polyglot programming'. The question totally surprised me because I'd never thought of myself like that because it doesn't seem to me that it's anything special at all.

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

#20

Post by mcv »

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!
Post reply on HN