What programming language to learn? - page 3.

ampkZjWDQcqT

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GNU is not UNIX

Quote from: bitplane on July 11, 2011, 04:01:37 AM

I wouldn't recommend Lisp unless you want to become a computer scientist or to write programs in Emacs. Most people learn to program so they can achieve things, not for the art of programming itself. Python is a language that gets stuff done in very few lines of code, which is what most people want/need.

That's an horrible advice. Angry

!. Software quality is decaying because now days the average programmer don't cares enough to properly learn the underlying theory required to make quality software. Instead they just want to "achieve things" or "get things done", as if to acquire knowledge wasn't an achievement in itself. Ignorance of the principles of your work is not an option. Please don't incentive new programmers to continue polluting the software collection with crap.

Djao

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Risk-hedging platform for cryptocurrency investors

dserrano5

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Quote from: mouse on July 11, 2011, 12:49:02 PM

Quotes collected by Bruce Eckel:

Any (preferably recent) opinion from yours? Obviously you haven't seen much Perl code.

In any case, I'm not following this argument. Just gave my opinion and that's all.

mouse

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Quote from: dserrano5 on July 11, 2011, 12:31:06 PM

I'd go for Perl. 90% of what you want to do has already been done and is available from CPAN.

Quotes collected by Bruce Eckel:

Python is executable pseudocode. Perl is executable line noise.

Perl is like vice grips. You can do anything with it, and it's the wrong tool for every job.

Perl is worse than Python because people wanted it worse. Larry Wall (Creator of Perl), 14 Oct 1998

I would actively encourage my competition to use Perl. Sean True, 30 Mar 1999

dserrano5

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I'd go for Perl. 90% of what you want to do has already been done and is available from CPAN.

Rassah

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Var'aq. Learn Var'aq. http://freshmeat.net/projects/varaq/ Then you can program Bitcoin in Klingon, making it an intergalactic currency, not just an international one Cheesy

relative

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master C++.
you can learn almost any other language within an hour after you've done that. (except maybe functional languages like Haskell)

phungus

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I'm doin' fine on cloud 9

I learned Perl in the early 90's and never felt the need to learn anything else, but I'm a sysadmin.

It has the Catalyst framework for MVC web apps, and it has POE for an event driven framework.

There's lots of sample code and tons of good books. Lots of tutorials.

Perl code can look messy if the person writing it is a mess. This is the same for any language.

It's not the best or the fastest but it works for pretty much any situation just because it's been around for so long and is on pretty much every 'nix box and can be put on Windows easily too. CPAN modules are easy to download and install.

Also, pretty much every web host in the world supports Perl.

It also support object oriented programming semantics, of course.

chickenado

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For a beginner I would recommend Ruby because it's human-centered, while most other languages are machine-centered.

bitplane

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Firstbits: 1gyzhw

I'll also say Python, firstly because it's my favourite language, secondly because OP says he/she was a BASIC programmer and Python reads like BASIC but introduces more complex programming structures.

I wouldn't recommend Lisp unless you want to become a computer scientist or to write programs in Emacs. Most people learn to program so they can achieve things, not for the art of programming itself. Python is a language that gets stuff done in very few lines of code, which is what most people want/need.

ElectricMonk

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+1 Ruby

^^^ That stuff is pure ^^^

Why don't you go build something interesting for Bitcoin in SproutCore

It's a mantra of the Pragmatic Programmer that you should learn a new language every year. Never found the time myself.

aeroSpike

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Quote from: EconomicOracle on July 10, 2011, 01:00:18 AM

PHP can do ANYTHING!

Yeah right. Write a driver in PHP, or an Operating System.
And even for what PHP is designed to do there are much better solutions.

befuddled

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C++. Accept no substitutes.

vectorvictor

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Quote from: mouse on July 10, 2011, 03:06:11 AM

There are 3 main programming paradigm's that I’m aware of: procedural, object orientated, and functional. I'm going to suggest you start with Object Orientated. For that, I'm going to nominate Java or Python.

Does not quite follow. Python supports all three paradigms (although the functional aspect has been somewhat nerfed in recent versions).

Python is easy to learn, very clean (even pretty), has incredible libraries ("batteries included"), and is supported by an awesome community. It plays well with others (e.g. you can use inline C for huge speed boosts in critical sections). It is a terrific scripting language and glue language, and doesn't look like line noise (yes, I'm looking at you, Perl).

I've written programs in at least 22 languages. When I have a choice, I now choose Python for quick coding, C / C++ for heavy lifting (i.e. computationally intensive stuff). Scheme (a very clean dialect of Lisp) is beautiful and powerful, and I would use it more often if I had my druthers (plus, thinking in Scheme makes you smarter).

Web programming is a mess. If you really need to do it, maybe try Javascript and HTML5, and just skip all the mistakes of the last 20 years.

Obviously, I have a strong bias toward "clean" (the concept, not the language:).

Jointops420

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This has been a very helpful thread, cheers. I have been into computers for nearly 20yrs, I got formally edumacted at TAFE with networks 10years ago, learned more of my fellow students than the slow feed from the teachers. I had a choice at the time to go with networking or do coding now I wish in hind site I choose coding. Theres just so much skope for bitcoin with the much needed applications for commerce or solo workers that will need new/newer programs for a long time yet.
This has been so helpful to hear everyones preferences, I choose Python to learn after a bit of extra reading.

qbg

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Quote from: Bitcoin Swami on July 09, 2011, 09:38:34 PM

Its been a while since I programmed (basic) <-- dont laugh.. gorilla was an awesome game!

anyways I'd like to learn to make scripts or programs that can help bitcoin, I'm just wondering if I had to learn one which would be the best. Should I learn C or should I learn php for web stuff. Kinda leaning toward php. But just wondering what others think. When i go to learn something I go balls to the wall.

What is the bitcoin client programmed in?

Anyways thanks.

Avoid PHP; it is a poorly designed language.

For general programming, I'd recommend you a member of the Lisp family with a focus on functional programming such as Scheme, Racket, or Clojure. Clojure runs on the JVM and is a very practical language, but can currently be rough in a few spots.

For web programming:
* Javascript - You need it for client side scripting (you can also use it server side with Node.js). A lisp background will help with good Javascript code.
* Ruby - A clean language (with lisp influences), and it has Ruby on Rails.
* Java - The JVM is good for server-side programming, and has a ton of libraries available. Spring MVC makes web programming bearable, but it is still rather heavy.

Quote from: enquirer on July 10, 2011, 08:23:52 AM

90% of programmer's job is "google->copy->paste", so choose the language with largest amount of available code)

Wrong. Cargo-cult programming is a very bad practice.

Quote

C and C++ look terribly outdated, if you code with them why not go directly for VHDL its even more efficient)

C and C++ are general purpose programming languages (and are good languages for some domains). VHDL is for hardware.

hugolp

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Radix-The Decentralized Finance Protocol

Quote from: bcearl on July 10, 2011, 07:15:40 AM

Quote from: giantdragon on July 10, 2011, 06:26:01 AM

C++ with Qt Framework.

Puke.

C with Glib/GObject system.

And Vala!

bernd

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Quote from: ampkZjWDQcqT on July 09, 2011, 10:28:33 PM

You shouldn't go with your mind set to "learn a programming language". A "programming language" is only an expression of the underlying art, The art of computer programming, there even is a multi-volume book bearing that title. Programmers ought to dedicate their career to master this art. I recommend Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. TAOCP is a legend, it's very lengthy but if you have enough time you can't afford to not to read it.

This. Even though i am no master or anything like that, i loved the Lectures.

JohnDoe

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+1 to Javascript. If you are going for web development that's the way to go as you can use it for both front end (jQuery) and back end (Node.js).

ampkZjWDQcqT

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GNU is not UNIX

Quote from: Steve on July 10, 2011, 08:25:27 AM

[...] Google's v8 team is very talented and making JavaScript very fast (I've read that is it 10x faster than PHP right now and 3x faster than Python and likely to continue getting much faster).

No. Languages don't have speed, implementations do. Comparing implementations evaluation time (Speed) only makes sense for a given test case(s), which are missing from your claims.

I don't understand. Java, Ruby @ seen by Lisp fans, duh?.

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