

Ask HN: What Programming Languages do you use and for what? - r0h4n

I use Java at Work for mostly enterprise stuff.
Python for Pet Projects.
Golang out of curiosity.
C/x86 ASM for feeling elite.
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mahmud
Common Lisp for work/fun. C and Java to wrap libraries for Lisp and clean up
FFIs.

I know tens of programming languages. But other than Lisp, I just can't
program comfortably in any of them without having a manual beside me. Mostly
because I don't want/need to.

When it comes to "fun" languages, I prefer rigor to abundance of libraries
(Citeseer/LtU to github.) I will happily spend a weekend on Mozart/Oz, Scheme,
ML, along with hundreds upon hundreds of research languages that I pick up to
follow a given text or area of research, but quickly forget once I get a
general sense of the field and I am done reading the papers.

I also dabble in J2EE and C++ stuff, from "architecture" stand points; to
quickly learn new design techniques, then translate them to Lisp semantics, or
usually just obviate the need for them.

Most mainstream languages bore me, and I find them lacking in quality peer-
reviewed papers or ground-breaking work. So far they're just a synthesis of
old ideas into a nice, accessible package, or fixes of previous short-comings.
I am also idiot-intolerant; if I find a language attracts loud blowhards,
corporate types, shrieking excited newbs, and generally uninformed pundits, I
am more likely to avoid it just to avoid their company ..

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epochwolf
Ruby for the website I'm working on.

PHP for websites I need to throw up quickly.

Javascript for browser scripting.

Bash for scripting on linux/osx.

Applescript for automating stuff on my mac that can't be done with bash.

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alok-g
Moved from C++ to C# for a few years but ended up making a comeback to C++. C#
does not cut it for scientific computation. See my C# forum post here:
[http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/csharplanguage/th...](http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en/csharplanguage/thread/47d10fcb-2d69-451a-bb97-023f1f9113f3)

Mathematica for heavily mathematical tasks. Sometimes Matlab to use some of
its built-in library functions. I wish Mathematica supported object-oriented
programming natively.

Have used others for various random tasks: ActionScript, Python, Verilog, etc.

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aufreak3
C++ and a Scheme dialect at work.

Mathematica for research.

SuperCollider for audio work.

Played around with Haskell, Lua, Python, Oz and Erlang for fun.

~~~
SingAlong
Thanks for mentioning SuperCollider. I thought ChucK was the only one
available for audio programming. Any place to start audio programming? I was
really bad at physics so Sin and Cos stuff only go over my head.

My stack:

Javascript to play with Node.js

Ruby for web apps

Java for android's sake

Mirah for it's ruby-like syntax for java stuff

Used to do python a few months back

Learning Common Lisp

My next would be Haskell

P.S: There's nothing serious I'm working on right now. So most I do i try out
stuff to write opensource code to show off on my resume.

~~~
mahmud
You don't have to use Java just for Android. I am working on a tutorial for
Android programming in Common Lisp. Shoot me an email so I can update you.

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Symmetry
C++ at work for the new code

C at work for supporting the old code (and at my last job for embedded
systems)

Matlab at work 'cause the science phds I'm collaborating with don't know
anything else

Python for most random tasks (and some analysis for myself using numpy)

Lua for extending my window manager

Haskell (just starting) for fun

Spice at my last job for circuit analysis

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madhouse
C/C++: At work

Python: At work, and as the backend language for my web stuffs (django & al)

Perl: Quick hacks and system scripts

Shell: System scripts where perl would be an overkill

JavaScript: as part of my personal web stuffs. Recently experimenting with
node.js aswell.

I use a couple of others (Ruby, mainly) to learn them, in case I'd need them
someday.

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jleader
Over the years I've used C++, C, Java, Perl, a little Mathematica (for
analysing algorithms and trying to come up with better approximations to
replace expensive numeric algorithms), sh, small amounts of x86 assembly, and
even Modula-2 (long ago) for work. Currently I'm using mostly Perl (with POE)
for high-load low-latency web serving, web scraping, and various back-end
scripts. We use Javascript for front-end stuff, but I'm less involved with
that.

In the past I've played around a bit with Haskell, OCaml, Scheme, Smalltalk,
and even Forth (again, a long time ago!). I've looked at Erlang a little, but
haven't gotten around to doing anything with it. I'm hoping to get some time
to play with Rakudo (Perl 6) sometime soon, and I'm looking at whether Hackety
Hack and Ruby are the right way to introduce my kids to programming.

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igrekel
For startup -Smalltalk for Web app backend -Ruby for for backend job scripting
-Some javascript

At day job \- VB for some macros in Excel \- R for analysis \- Java for some
integration modules and helping on some enterprise apps. \- Scheme for other
analysis and generating certain visualizations. \- Bash scripts

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smutticus
At work the list is; PHP, Perl, Javascript, ksh and good ole K&R C For fun I
mess around with Ruby and Scheme. I even played around with arc3 for a bit
because I was curious.

Every job I've had I keep coming back to Unix scripting. It's just the one
language that I need to always know and I constantly come back to it. I used
to work on a wide smattering of very ancient Unix boxes so I had to get comfy
with ksh. I use awk and sed daily just for wading through source code.

I used to spend every day coding in the scripting language for the Ameritech
ISDN bulk call generator. I still have nightmares. It was like a cross between
BASIC and assembly only it ran on an Intel 8086. This was in the late 90's
still.

Every once in a while someone tells me I need to learn TCL. But so far I've
avoided it.

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alttab
Ruby: Backend web application development (work)

Javascript: Front end UI and plugin API development (work)

C: How fast can I do this? (whenever needed)

C++/Java/Flash: Games (made a good 3D game in a Java applet - check out
arcade.connersc.com)

PHP: Freelance client work

(edit: formatting)

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azakus
\- Javascript for APIs and backend frameworks (work & fun)

\- Perl for scripts and a documentation tool (work)

\- Scala for fun little projects (fun)

\- C/C++/C# for small things just to keep my skills up (fun)

\- Shell for portable scripts and such (work & fun)

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stonemetal
C++ at work(all the money making systems)

C# at work(some new projects)

python at work (automate stuff basically shell scripts for windows)

Haskell at home small projects.

C++ at home for working on games.

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Throlkim
I was hired as a PHP developer, but I'm gradually transitioning them over to
Ruby. I still need a manual for both of these languages; PHP for the ludicrous
amount of functions (<http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.levenshtein.php>
anybody?), and Ruby for the frequently confusing code I come across. Ruby is
my current hobby language.

I also use Javascript for jQuery, and for Node.js in my spare time.

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keefe
java is my default for server work, with eclipse and 12 years experience (has
it really been so long??) I'm pretty quick.

javascript + jquery for front end work.

sometimes AS3 but not lately.

working on erlang as couchdb has become increasingly important to my work.

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TheSmoke
Python - for web development and some various jobs I need done and I'm using
it at work.

D - for cross platform desktop applications I'm developing.

Learning Scala for the future and planning to use Vala for GTK apps.

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MoreMoschops
C, c++, Obj-C at work (with a healthy mashing of bash scripting for the meta-
work)

