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I am ready to learn a new code set. Whats the best language to learn right now?

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Re: I am ready to learn a new code set. Whats the best language to learn right now?

#2

Post by mechanical_fish »

What do you want to build?

Ruby or Python is good. Just pick one. Flip a coin. Or do what I did: I picked the one that _Why's book was about, and that proved to be a very amusing way to choose:

http://poignantguide.net/ruby/

(See also: http://hacketyhack.net/ and http://shoooes.net/ .)

Also good, but for different things: Scheme (as learned from SICP), C, Objective C, Java (so that you'll know what everyone else is complaining about).

Re: I am ready to learn a new code set. Whats the best language to learn right now?

#3

Post by RKlophaus »

Mechanical_fish asked the right question: What do you want to build? Once you know what you can get passionate about, figure out what people commonly use to build apps in that arena.

Some suggestions:

Rich media websites? Flash/Actionscript

"Desktop-class" web apps? Cappucino or SproutCore

Business web apps? Java or C#, SQL

Aiming to work at a startup? Rails/Ruby or PHP, SQL

Desktop apps? Objective-C or .NET, SQL

Looking to expand your mind? Erlang, Lisp, Haskell, or OCaml

Hardware or Operating Systems? C, C++

Hope that helps. This is by no means a complete (or even totally accurate) list, so others please jump in.

Re: I am ready to learn a new code set. Whats the best language to learn right now?

#4

Post by scott_s »

There is no "being sure" before you start learning, because in order to determine what you like, you first have to learn your options. It's better to just pick something and start than to forever wait for the "right" thing.

Personally, I made a choice between learning Ruby and Python based mostly on emotion: I found most Python code samples more aesthetically pleasing.

Re: I am ready to learn a new code set. Whats the best language to learn right now?

#5

Post by eatenbyagrue »

RKlophaus wrote: post #3

Mechanical_fish asked the right question: What do you want to build? Once you know what you can get passionate about, figure out what people commonly use to build apps in that arena. Some suggestions: Rich media websites? Flash/Actionscript "Desktop-class" web apps? Cappucino or SproutCore Business web apps? Java or C#, SQL Aiming to work at a startup? Rails/Ruby or PHP, SQL Desktop apps? Objective-C or .NET, SQL Loo…

I use Rails, but would add Django/Python to the "startup" list

Re: I am ready to learn a new code set. Whats the best language to learn right now?

#8

Post by vidioradeo »

RKlophaus wrote: post #3

Mechanical_fish asked the right question: What do you want to build? Once you know what you can get passionate about, figure out what people commonly use to build apps in that arena. Some suggestions: Rich media websites? Flash/Actionscript "Desktop-class" web apps? Cappucino or SproutCore Business web apps? Java or C#, SQL Aiming to work at a startup? Rails/Ruby or PHP, SQL Desktop apps? Objective-C or .NET, SQL Loo…

thanks so much for the in depth response...really helped.

Re: I am ready to learn a new code set. Whats the best language to learn right now?

#9

Post by olefoo »

I'm going to be slightly contrarian and suggest two languages that are widely considered boring and old hat.

All too many developers think they know what there is to know about both of them, and most of them are wrong.

These are languages that will be useful to you in any shop in the industry; in fact you've probably had occasion to use them both already.

SQL and Javascript. You may think you know them already. But they both reward in-depth study.

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