

Ask HN: What programming languages to pick up for Internet of Things projects? - npguy


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swah
C because [1], but Javascript is also being used in that space, Lua is small
and beautiful, Python is everywhere, Forth can be implemented in 42 bytes of
Forth...

[1] "Pointers are real. They’re what the hardware understands. Somebody has to
deal with them. You can’t just place a LISP book on top of an x86 chip and
hope that the hardware learns about lambda calculus by osmosis."

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pedalpete
So many comments about using C, but I think the question may be a bit too
broad to make a sweeping generalisation. IoT is such a broad term it's like
saying 'what language should I use for a web-app?'.

What are you expecting of your IoT projects? What sort of hardware are you
thinking of running on? Is power usage a concern? Performance? What languages
are you most comfortable with already?

I don't have the answers for these, but knowing may help you figure out what
to use. The truth is, these days you have so many options, it's a bit similar
to asking what language to use for a web-app, and the decision may follow a
similar path. Does anybody build web-apps in C anymore? If so, why?

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bjones22
It depends. If you're making an attempt at future-proofing yourself, you gotta
start at the bottom with "C".

If you're just looking to pick up your first project in the category, consider
something simple like a RaspberryPI + Python.

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planteen
You are looking at a simple embedded hardware platform, so C is going to be
90% of project. A few project may use C++. Even more fringe outliers might be
assembler and Ada.

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arisAlexis
It is impressive how much people hate Java. It is currently used in billions
of devices already and it is the obvious high-level language to go.

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GFK_of_xmaspast
There's not many answers besides "C".

