Remembering programming languages

[Rroff]

Often as a developer you will not work in a single language. Certain projects need to be developed in a particular language so you could easily go 1-2 years without touching a language depending on what you are currently working on.

Can be more than just working in 1 or even 2 languages but also related CLIs, scripting languages, etc. - one project I worked on required knowledge of VBA (mostly for translating old functions into a new system), perl, bash and DOS, C++ and PHP.

EDIT: TBH could have spread it out over a few people with specialised knowledge but I took a lot on myself as I knew enough about all of them to be able to pickup on what was what working from someone else's original code.

 

[roccles]

Can be more than just working in 1 or even 2 languages but also related CLIs, scripting languages, etc. - one project I worked on required knowledge of VBA (mostly for translating old functions into a new system), perl, bash and DOS, C++ and PHP.

EDIT: TBH could have spread it out over a few people with specialised knowledge but I took a lot on myself as I knew enough about all of them to be able to pickup on what was what working from someone else's original code.

Completely agree. Current project involves JavaScript, CSS, php, Java and a few third party java libraries.

But this project also includes a lot of time looking at the previous code which is mainly coldfusion,actionscript and C# so rarely just a single language.

 

[Haggisman]

Often as a developer you will not work in a single language.

This. I'm currently working on a project which uses VB.NET, C#.NET, Java, COBOL and lots of XML, not to mention some lovely CA GEN

It's more important to be familiar with the concepts of programming, which can be transferred between languages, than the syntax of the languages themselves which you can easily google

 

[redrabbit29]

Impressive knowledge here. Wish I knew that much.

For years I've hacked code but don't seem to be able to confidently say "I can use C, Java, etc....

.NET is something I've never looked at and know nothing about
Same for c# but I see loads of jobs asking for it

 

[Rroff]

Impressive knowledge here. Wish I knew that much.

For years I've hacked code but don't seem to be able to confidently say "I can use C, Java, etc....

.NET is something I've never looked at and know nothing about
Same for c# but I see loads of jobs asking for it

Its something I have a problem with because I don't really specialise so I have a bit of a problem saying confidently I can program in language X because if say in an interview they asked a question specific to language X theres a chance I wouldn't be able to answer it - but I could pick the language up rapidly if I needed to :S

i.e. I generally avoid java like the plague but if push came to shove I could be up and cracking out code like a pro within a week tops (preferably with google to hand).

 

[redrabbit29]

Its something I have a problem with because I don't really specialise so I have a bit of a problem saying confidently I can program in language X because if say in an interview they asked a question specific to language X theres a chance I wouldn't be able to answer it - but I could pick the language up rapidly if I needed to :S

i.e. I generally avoid java like the plague but if push came to shove I could be up and cracking out code like a pro within a week tops (preferably with google to hand).

I still wonder what I'd put on my CV. Obviously if the job was "C Developer" I wouldn't ever go for it. Equally, I've never once used Java ... well I may have in college but can't remember.

So if it was "IT Manager" job, I wouldn't be against maybe saying "I have experience in.... C, Python..." etc... as I don't think it really matters how deep the knowledge is for that kind of job. Plus they wouldn't expect whole knowledge I guess.

I wouldn't mind learning C or C# or Java but I just don't have any need to which makes it really hard. Plus the time it takes to learn I don't think I can sacrifice. When I was younger and lived on my computer I would probably have picked them all up for fun!

 

[Deceptor]

As a hobby or as part of your job? I'm just curious as to what job would require the occasional bit of C#, but only once every 1-2 years

Part of my job, work for a website and some services/functionality needs are better served by C#, shame because I do love the language and would love to be more involved with it - dabbling with it in my own time isn't the same

 

[D.P.]

Can be more than just working in 1 or even 2 languages but also related CLIs, scripting languages, etc. - one project I worked on required knowledge of VBA (mostly for translating old functions into a new system), perl, bash and DOS, C++ and PHP.

EDIT: TBH could have spread it out over a few people with specialised knowledge but I took a lot on myself as I knew enough about all of them to be able to pickup on what was what working from someone else's original code.

The project I am working on requires C, C++, C#, Java, objective C, python, bash, SQL, JavaScript.... At the same company I've also had to use perl, fortran and some even more esoteric things.

 

[D.P.]

Its something I have a problem with because I don't really specialise so I have a bit of a problem saying confidently I can program in language X because if say in an interview they asked a question specific to language X theres a chance I wouldn't be able to answer it - but I could pick the language up rapidly if I needed to :S

i.e. I generally avoid java like the plague but if push came to shove I could be up and cracking out code like a pro within a week tops (preferably with google to hand).

I have the same issue but I wouldn't be interested in a company that tested specific language features as an interview test.

 

[jonneymendoza]

In general yes but I think its a bit of an industry lie for the most part. To become good and efficient and build good software you cannot just pick up most languages and knock out production grade code.

They all have their own ways of doing things and their own libraries, frameworks which follow different patterns.

Understanding the core concepts of programming allows you to learn the language but I would say that it will take a good while to become a good programmer in a lot of languages to learn the nuances and pros / cons.

+1

I was about to say something similar.

 

[jonneymendoza]

Oh the customer usually couldn't care less how it is cobbled together under the hood but one of the trickiest parts of development is writing code that is fit for the future. Its easy to write something that fits the current requirements but to make something that can be modified over years is something else.

true but even the most elegant code can still need to be ripped apart and redone due to massive changes in design/requirements


Also dont forget the triangle:

Cost quality and time.

Pick 2 out of 3