Re:Ask HN: Learning multiple languages vs. mastering one
by vthallam on Wednesday May 23, 2018 @09:37AM
(#17134043)
Maybe not in a trading firm, but Java is still heavily used across tech/enterprise companies. I used to work for a IB which used Java heavily and so do Spotify, Amazon, Google.
Re:Ask HN: Learning multiple languages vs. mastering one
by mattferderer on Wednesday May 23, 2018 @10:02AM
(#17134232)
Strongly agree. I would take "any real web project" a bit farther & argue it's only for the time being. While WebAssembly won't kill JavaScript it is slowly creating a world where you can pick a different language if you want for front end web development. Monopolies are bad & it'll be great when this one no longer exists, for JS devs & everyone.
Re:Ask HN: Learning multiple languages vs. mastering one
by dxxvi on Wednesday May 23, 2018 @09:30AM
(#17133985)
"I don't think we use Java much either": may I know what your trading firm uses?
Re:Ask HN: Learning multiple languages vs. mastering one
by aldanor on Wednesday May 23, 2018 @10:05AM
(#17134255)
Depends on the type of task and the target platform — C#, C++ and Python to name a few.
And, of course, VHDL (in certain projects)...
Re:Ask HN: Learning multiple languages vs. mastering one
by ebulkin on Wednesday May 23, 2018 @09:52AM
(#17134150)
99% chance it's C++, that's what essentially all trading firms use.
Re:Ask HN: Learning multiple languages vs. mastering one
by hermitdev on Wednesday May 23, 2018 @11:54AM
(#17135140)
Yeah, all of the trading systems I've worked with have been in C++. At a previous employer, they had initially written their entire stack in Java. But, performance was an issue, as was cost (this was back Java still belonged to Sun and they were running Solaris on Sun hardware). Right before I joined, they had rewritten most of the java components in C++ and were in the process of moving off of Sun hardware & Solaris in favor of Intel & Linux. Front end stuff was mostly C++/MFC on Windows, later was C#/WPF. Perl & Python were both heavily used there, as well.
That's a bit of an overestimation to say the least. E.g., I work at a trading firm and we use all kinds of languages for all kinds of purposes on all kinds of weird platforms, but JS is not one of them (I don't think we use Java much either, because why would you, this day and age).
'Any real web project' would be more correct. Not everyone cares about web projects though (same as not everyone cares about non-web projects, as you've pointed out).