Re:How I became a better programmer (2017)
by apotheon on Wednesday March 25, 2020 @12:08PM
(#22685911)
> If you learn to program in one language, it's easy to learn another.
That's often the case: many people who think that don't really use the strengths of the languages they use.
On the other hand, I've written a basic lambda calculus parser for fun and gone on to write (non-distributable, if I care about people) software using it, also for fun; I've written idiomatic, well-formed code in BASIC, C, Perl, Ruby, Scheme, Standard ML, and a wide range of other things; and I've basically added features by removing code. At some point, even if you know what you're doing, there comes a point where, kinda-sorta, it becomes easy to learn others.
It just takes a lot more than learning only one language to get to that point. Whether the person who first coined that comment about learning languages meant it as a simplification of a wise concept or was a blubdev who never really figured out the significant differences between programming languages is a question I'd like to see answered definitively, based on knowledge of the individual rather than guesses.
That's often the case: many people who think that don't really use the strengths of the languages they use.
On the other hand, I've written a basic lambda calculus parser for fun and gone on to write (non-distributable, if I care about people) software using it, also for fun; I've written idiomatic, well-formed code in BASIC, C, Perl, Ruby, Scheme, Standard ML, and a wide range of other things; and I've basically added features by removing code. At some point, even if you know what you're doing, there comes a point where, kinda-sorta, it becomes easy to learn others.
It just takes a lot more than learning only one language to get to that point. Whether the person who first coined that comment about learning languages meant it as a simplification of a wise concept or was a blubdev who never really figured out the significant differences between programming languages is a question I'd like to see answered definitively, based on knowledge of the individual rather than guesses.