I think that programming languages are tools which aid the development of programs, but the program itself is really independent of the programming lanauge. I know that I write the same program no matter what the compiler (or assembler).
If you have to learn just one programming language
31–38 of 38 posts
Re: If you have to learn just one programming language
#32I'd pick Javascript. Code and reach is all I need to be rich.
You know what language is pretty good that no one would ever pick? Actionscript. It's like javascript but it has strong types (if you want them) and a decent toolset. Of course, everyone hates flash now...
Haxe is even better. Very similar to Actionscript but with more comprehensive type inference and generics, to be brief.
Re: If you have to learn just one programming language
#33if (you_have_to_learn_one_language) { make_highly_subjective_claims(); eliminate_good_candidates_for_specious_reasons(); arrive_at_questionable_conclusion(); } else { broaden_your_understanding_of_programming(); be_able_to_evaluate_multiple_solutions_for_problem(); } The underlying premise is flawed. No one has to learn just one language and anyone who stops at one is limiting themselves to being a journeyman program…
(if (you-have-to-learn-one-language) (begin (make-highly-subjective-claims) (eliminate-good-candidates-for-specious-reasons) (arive-at-questionable-conclusion)) (begin (broaden-your-understanding-of-programming) (be-able-to-evaluate-multiple-solutions-for-problem)))
[deleted]
Re: If you have to learn just one programming language
#34If you have to learn just one language, and you're forbidden from learning another, you'll mentally hobbled, a technical cripple, like someone who's been forced to express their thoughts using only 5'000 randomly selected words of the English language. The premise is completely flawed. No single language is enough to "be a programmer". You need other languages, if only to understand what your language does. And you n…
It's a bit like "Desert Island Disks": if you are washed up on an island, and by some odd chance you have precisely 10 recordings, and ... A silly game. As you say, the monolingual programmer is unlikely to be proficient. How many professional musicians are competent on exactly one instrument? (Admittedly, they may be professional-grade on one only.)
(Though a one-legged stool, otherwise "a shooting stick", has its uses.)
Re: If you have to learn just one programming language
#35if (you_have_to_learn_one_language) { make_highly_subjective_claims(); eliminate_good_candidates_for_specious_reasons(); arrive_at_questionable_conclusion(); } else { broaden_your_understanding_of_programming(); be_able_to_evaluate_multiple_solutions_for_problem(); } The underlying premise is flawed. No one has to learn just one language and anyone who stops at one is limiting themselves to being a journeyman program…
Of course the premise is flawed. It doesn't stop it from being widespread, however. For many people, one language is enough. I had teachers who told be that learning one language is enough to learn them all (except for the syntax). I have a colleague who wouldn't use anything but C++ for "serious" projects. [Edit] Could someone tell me where this comment went wrong?
I had teachers who told be that learning one language is enough to learn them all (except for the syntax).
That sounds like typical academia-speak (assuming you mean to say they were implying all general-purpose languages are essentially interchangeable by Turing-completeness). But if you're going to go down that road, you might as well go all the way and just program Turing machines. Believe me, if you thought assembler on real processor was low-level, nothing beats directly programming a universal Turing machine.
Re: If you have to learn just one programming language
#36Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of course the premise is flawed. It doesn't stop it from being widespread, however. For many people, one language is enough. I had teachers who told be that learning one language is enough to learn them all (except for the syntax). I have a colleague who wouldn't use anything but C++ for "serious" projects. [Edit] Could someone tell me where this comment went wrong?
I had teachers who told be that learning one language is enough to learn them all (except for the syntax). That sounds like typical academia-speak (assuming you mean to say they were implying all general-purpose languages are essentially interchangeable by Turing-completeness). But if you're going to go down that road, you might as well go all the way and just program Turing machines. Believe me, if you thought assem…
They were actually saying that learning Fortran is enough to understand all the important concepts. It was not about Turing completeness. They actually thought that languages are all more or less the same. Maybe they knew about exceptions, like Prolog, but didn't mention them because of their perceived irrelevance. "They" are quite rare among professors, but they do exist.
Sometimes, it is the course, not the professor, which implies that Fortran is enough. Such a course made me study algorithms. The syntax was some sort of Pascal. The semantic was first order and imperative. And because no compiler existed for such a language, they acted as if the thing was "language independent".
Re: If you have to learn just one programming language
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ouch, so many side-effects. My scheme instincts are wincing.
; Perhaps you would prefer monadic clojure? ; We wouldn't want to make it look too alien ;) (with-monad state-m (defn m-advice [your-brain spurious-advice?] (if spurious-advice? (m-chain (make-highly-subjective-claims eliminate-good-candidates-for-specious-reasons arive-at-questionable-conclusion) your-brain) (m-chain ((m-understanding-broadener :programming) be-able-to-evaluate-multiple-solutions-for-problem) your-b…
Oddly enough, that did make me feel better. It's strange how encapsulating the side-effects in a state monad can be so soothing.
Re: If you have to learn just one programming language
#38if (you_have_to_learn_one_language) { make_highly_subjective_claims(); eliminate_good_candidates_for_specious_reasons(); arrive_at_questionable_conclusion(); } else { broaden_your_understanding_of_programming(); be_able_to_evaluate_multiple_solutions_for_problem(); } The underlying premise is flawed. No one has to learn just one language and anyone who stops at one is limiting themselves to being a journeyman program…
if (false) {
self.the_one_language_I_should_learn = "the best one";
} else {
delete(self.the_one_language_I_should_learn);
while (self.could_improve) {
self.programming_skills_and_insights_struggled_with++
}
}