Re:The Zen of Missing Out on the Next Great Programming Tool
by AnimalMuppet on Wednesday March 09, 2016 @04:57PM
(#11256008)
Depends on your definition of "learn".
Learn it well enough to write it? Sure, a couple of weeks, maybe less.
Learn it well enough to write professional-quality code? That takes longer, because you have to learn what the pitfalls are. (Writing professional code, in large part, boils down to knowing what not to write.)
Learn it well enough to be as productive as you were with the previous language? Maybe three to six months?
And that's the real problem, IMHO. It's going to take me three months of lower productivity to make the switch to the new language/framework/tool/whatever. How long will the new thing take to pay me back for that time it costs? If it's not significantly better than what I'm using now, it's not worth the cost.
Learn it well enough to write it? Sure, a couple of weeks, maybe less.
Learn it well enough to write professional-quality code? That takes longer, because you have to learn what the pitfalls are. (Writing professional code, in large part, boils down to knowing what not to write.)
Learn it well enough to be as productive as you were with the previous language? Maybe three to six months?
And that's the real problem, IMHO. It's going to take me three months of lower productivity to make the switch to the new language/framework/tool/whatever. How long will the new thing take to pay me back for that time it costs? If it's not significantly better than what I'm using now, it's not worth the cost.