OSNews has started a series called A-Z of programming languages where they’ve been posting interviews with the creators of well-known programming languages. Till now they’ve done AWK, Ada and BASH. Of those three the only one I’ve had any experience with is BASH, and not too much of that. But considering that there are literally hundreds of programming languages (and many more dialects or implementations) which ones should one learn to be a good programmer?
I know that many programmers out there simply learn just one or two languages and then use them throughout their careers (or at least until it becomes impossible to find a job). Certainly that works, to some point at least and so the question is, do we really need to learn languages that are not the “industry standard” (i.e. whatever has the most jobs on offer). If all you’re interested in is a job, then no, you don’t. One or two languages will probably be enough. However, if you want to keep learning and keep developing as a programmer, then the answer is most certainly yes. Some programming languages are quite similar in terms of syntax and power, but some are very different and teach you think in different ways. It’s these different languages that are going to make you better as a programmer.
So we come back to our initial question: How many languages to learn and perhaps more importantly which ones? I think that there are two types of languages that are worth learning: Those that make you think differently and those that have been used to write a large amount of high quality code. Languages like Smalltalk and LISP and to some extent Java are strongly paradigm-oriented, they emphasize a specific style of programming, in the case of Smalltalk it’s object-oriented and in the case of LISP and it’s derivatives, it’s pure functional. Such languages will teach you important lessons which you can apply even when you’re using some other languages.
One of the languages that has been widely embraced by the hacker community is C. There is a incredible amount of really good code written in C, the most famous of which is probably the Linux kernel. Unless you’re a systems programmer, you probably won’t have to use C or C++ much, but you can benefit a lot from reading well written code. C and C++ can be used to write powerful code, but sometimes the power doesn’t quite justify taking the trouble of all the low-level work that you have to do. In that case, it’s good to have a general purpose high-level language lying around. I would strongly recommend Python, but you might find another language easier for everyday use. But once you have made a choice, learn it well and use it to it’s maximum.
It might be worthwhile learning a language that has powerful text processing abilities, like AWK or Perl. It might make your work easier if you know one or both. And there is an awful lot of code written in Perl for the purpose of gluing larger programs together, so it might be worthwhile to learn it. However, Perl has been falling from grace for a good few years and many people are now using Python and Ruby to the same things they used Perl for. I don’t have a concrete opinion of Perl at the moment, but I think it’s something you can put of learning until you have an actual need for it.
You should also learn Java. I personally consider Java to be a decent language, but not a good one and I probably wouldn’t use it if I had a choice. However, it is a very popular one and if you get a job as a programmer, chances are you’ll encounter a substantial amount of Java code which you have to deal with. And you won’t be much of a programmer if you can’t deal with other people’s code. So learn Java.
Knowing basic HTML or CSS is also a good idea. You might not be a full fledged web artist, but you should be able to throw together a decent web page without much trouble. Considering the growing importance of the web, learning a web programming language is becoming important. It’s not quite a necessity yet, but I think in less than 5 years it will be. I can’t recommend one now, because I have no experience, but I think that Ruby might be a good idea, because it’s a decent general purpose language as well.
I should say, that I don’t know all of the above, but I have had some experience with each of them. I think each of them have contributed to making me a better programmer, and that the more I delve into them and use them for harder problems, I will continue to improve. In conclusion, I would like to say that if you are committed enough to learn multiple languages well, you should also invest some time in learning a powerful text editor such as Vi or Emacs. Though you can certainly write great code with nothing more than Notepad, using a more powerful tool can make your job quite a bit easier (and considerably faster). Once you turn fine-tuning these editors to suit your style and habits, you won’t want to use anything else. If you’re seriously out to become the best programmer you can be, you’re going to want the best possible tools at your disposal.
I’ll be happy to here your comments on what programming languages you might recommend to anyone looking to improve their programming.
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