Another look at my programming language arsenal | Hacker News Reader

Another look at my programming language arsenal

eli.thegreenplace.net

15 pointscurrywurst2 comments

This really resonated with my current preferences as well, but I would add Java as a close second to C/C++.

And here is the most important quote (note to sigil-happy language designers ;) ): "I now feel much less strongly about programming languages (and other "religious" issues in general). I value pragmatism more than shiny new features, and I believe that factors outside the language itself, such as availability of high-quality third-party libraries and a vibrant community matter a lot. I also prefer languages and idioms that make code easier to read, rather than easier to write."

It resonated with me as well, although my primary language is now in fact JavaScript throughout the stack. I like node/iojs a lot and the more I use it the more I like it. It does have its' warts, and to use the newer language features I have given in and just use BabelJS (formerly 6to5), which is imho less of a departure than CoffeeScript, TypeScript and others. It works really well and has an incredibly vibrant community, though community standards aren't always well distributed, many people will develop/deploy libraries into the ecosystem that breaks convention at least initially.

I haven't had the chance to actually learn Python, but is at a point where I'm feeling I should. I'm far more interested in Go and Rust at the moment, given that the points I need to break from JS are more likely to be for raw performance needs.

As for moving away from the past, I've always liked C# far more than Java, but that's a different war... C# is a very nice language, and it's great to see more openness coming from MS in support of a broader community, though it may well be too late. It's not at the top of my mindset, and I find the flexibility that JS offers in the box is far more compelling for the interfaces I am creating and working with than either Java or C# tends to offer.

I've also been moving to a more functional structure in how I assemble projects. I have always leaned that way, but understanding more about it, and working in a language with first class functions fits me better. I've also been a fan of JS since well before Crockford published the good parts.

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