Learn a Programming Language Faster by Copying Unix • Hacker News Board

Re: Learn a Programming Language Faster by Copying Unix

#51

Post by 4ad » Sat, Nov 03, 2012, 8:10 PM UTC

shangaslammi wrote: post #24

arocks wrote: post #17

For a purely functional language like Haskell, this would not be a very good advice. Any kind of I/O would involve monads and other imperative constructs. Better implement an algorithm involving trees or graphs to better appreciate a functional language.

Not at all. You can start doing I/O in Haskell without knowing anything at all about monads by just treating the do-syntax as an imperative DSL. In fact, Bryan O'Sullivan (who wrote Real World Haskell) just held a tutorial session on Haskell a couple of weeks ago where people completely new to the language implemented simple Unix tools like "wc". I don't think monads were mentioned at all.

This only works if you are a top-down thinker. Many people are bottom-up thinkers.

Re: Learn a Programming Language Faster by Copying Unix

#52

Post by turingbook » Sat, Nov 03, 2012, 8:12 PM UTC

michaelfeathers wrote: post #21

I write a unit testing framework in every new language I learn. I find it's a great workout because making it usable for yourself is immediately assessable, and it often forces you into deeper areas of the language, including reflection and meta-programming.

Hope to see the frameworks on the Web.

Re: Learn a Programming Language Faster by Copying Unix

#53

Post by rodrigoavie » Sat, Nov 03, 2012, 8:21 PM UTC

nathan_f77 wrote: post #42

Great advice. I've written a simple version of the `column` tool as an entry to the International Obfuscated Ruby Code Contest: https://github.com/saizai/iorcc/pull/1 Just a bit of fun, the contest doesn't seem to be very 'official'.

nice!

Re: Learn a Programming Language Faster by Copying Unix

#54

Post by pilsetnieks » Sat, Nov 03, 2012, 8:24 PM UTC

It reminds me of the suggestion of learning foreign languages by reading Harry Potter in that translation.

Re: Learn a Programming Language Faster by Copying Unix

#55

Post by BrianPetro » Sat, Nov 03, 2012, 8:29 PM UTC

Congrats for being 18 and making it to the top of hacker news. You have proven that simple and concise advice can be greater in value than the most complex systems (or technically advanced articles that frequent HN).

Re: Learn a Programming Language Faster by Copying Unix

#56

Post by d0m » Sat, Nov 03, 2012, 8:29 PM UTC

When learning a new language, my first project is usually an IRC bot. It gives me a good feel of the language and I need to learn most core structures.

Re: Learn a Programming Language Faster by Copying Unix

#57

Post by eikenberry » Sat, Nov 03, 2012, 8:36 PM UTC

Zenst wrote: post #46

It is a good approach and back say 20 years ago the favorite was to redo the du command and add a conversion to MB (now handled by the -h option for human in the du and ls command). Cat is also a good example and not just to learn a programming language but the OS. Ask somebody to come up with 20 ways to display a file, you can do it with not just the cat command. Now I'm not saying there are twenty ways, but it is o…

I remember that hello world site, I think it fell off the internet but there are still many of those types of sites. One of my favs was the 99 bottles song in many languages. There are also larger projects like PLEAC and Rosetta code that are similar.

http://99-bottles-of-beer.net/ http://pleac.sourceforge.net/ http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Main_Page

Re: Learn a Programming Language Faster by Copying Unix

#58

Post by nirvana » Sat, Nov 03, 2012, 8:42 PM UTC

I disagree. I think writing code to solve whatever small problem you're having right now is better. No point in recreating the wheel ,which is boring, and will result in something you'll never actually use because, well, cat already exists on your system.

But if you use it to start something new, or to add to your repretoire of utilities, then that is something you're more motivated to complete and more useful expenditure of time to boot.

Re: Learn a Programming Language Faster by Copying Unix

#59

Post by leoh » Sat, Nov 03, 2012, 8:42 PM UTC

I think this advice only really makes sense if you understand and have an appreciation for UNIX tools. Otherwise, I think it would be rather burdensome to come to understand how seemingly abstruse UNIX tools function.

Re: Learn a Programming Language Faster by Copying Unix

#60

Post by spc476 » Sat, Nov 03, 2012, 8:58 PM UTC

Zenst wrote: post #46

It is a good approach and back say 20 years ago the favorite was to redo the du command and add a conversion to MB (now handled by the -h option for human in the du and ls command). Cat is also a good example and not just to learn a programming language but the OS. Ask somebody to come up with 20 ways to display a file, you can do it with not just the cat command. Now I'm not saying there are twenty ways, but it is o…

Earlier this year, I did 21 different implementations of a hex dump program in C (starting here: http://boston.conman.org/2012/01/09.1). I also included implementations in a few other languages just for comparison. Why? It was a neat break from the programming I do for work.