What programming languages do you know and which ones do you want to learn? - baron816
======
perfmode
I've found I can only know one programming language at a time.

However, I can go back to languages I've used before and relearn them more
quickly the nth time around.

~~~
theprotocol
When you go back and pick up a language you haven't used in a while, you find
yourself magically much improved because of the fundamentals you improved on
in other languages. I find that very rewarding.

------
theprotocol
• Used but suck at (or at least I think I suck at them): C, a bit of a niche
form of assembly, all kinds of strange application-specific languages

• Know but rusty: C++, C#, Python, AS3, Java, GLSL

• Currently use: JavaScript, Typescript, PHP, SQL, HTML/CSS

• Playing with: Nim, D, Rust

• Want to learn: I'm honestly trying to decide what to learn next. Might jump
into Nim but I also have to go back and give Rust more of a chance after
escaping the inconvenience of lifetime annotations. D seems nice but it seems
to be pretty colossal in a similar way to C++ and I don't have time to dig
into something like that right now.

One thing I'd love to do is go lower level than what I've ever done (C memory
management / kernel-y stuff), but I have no project which would justify doing
it and I'm time constrained.

------
mod
I know Python, Ruby, JavaScript, and PHP. I often work in all of those in a
given month. PHP is my weakest of the four.

If I could choose a new language to know, I would choose Clojure. I want to
know a lispy functional language, and I'd get a lot of the benefits of the
java ecosystem.

C or Java or C# might be a better choice, though. They would enable me to do a
lot of things I can't currently do, and I'm not entirely sure Clojure would do
that.

~~~
sheepmullet
> They would enable me to do a lot of things I can't currently do

What kind of things?

C for low level work and c#/Java for?

------
hvasilev
I don't "know" any language. My goal is to "know" C in the next 5 years. My
reach goal is to understand how the "computer works" in the next ~10 years.

Not in my wildest dreams can I imagine me "knowing" C++.

------
ezekg
Know fluently and use almost daily: Ruby, JS/CoffeeScript, Sass, PHP (moving
away from this one), Bash, Regex (lol).

Know pretty well, but haven't used in production: Go, C#.

Wish I knew more of: Python, Elixir, C.

------
VaedaStrike
_know_ \- Clojure (first language, one I know best via book learning / theory)
_know_ \- Scala (The one I have the most experience in as I've used for most
of my almost 3 years of professional programming career) _done-a-bit-of_ \-
XQuery, Java _like-to-learn_ \- Rust, Elixir, miniKanren/core.logic,
chez/Scheme, Idris

------
rl3
Want to learn: C++, Rust, Haskell, Go

Funny enough, learning C++ these days is arguably harder because of modern C++
standards. Reconciling the best practices between old and new can be difficult
at times, especially if you don't care to embrace everything modern C++ has to
offer. Multi-platform build systems also tend to be incredibly complex.

Rust solves all this, but its ecosystem isn't exactly mature at the moment.
Sadly very few people in game dev take Rust seriously right now.

~~~
zorked
Why would you not want to embrance modern C++? That's what makes C++
(potentially) worth learning today.

~~~
tlackemann
Do you have good resources on modern C++? I'm in the same boat of wanting to
learn either Rust or C++ but I'm finding it hard to focus on what's makes up
modern C++ and what I should avoid.

~~~
rl3
As a fellow passenger on that boat:

The 4th edition of Stroustrup's classic was updated to reflect modern
practices. [0]

Scott Meyers, author of _Effective C++_ also wrote _Modern Effective C++_. [1]

Lastly for pure online reference, cppreference.com. [2]

[0] [https://www.amazon.com/C-Programming-
Language-4th/dp/0321563...](https://www.amazon.com/C-Programming-
Language-4th/dp/0321563840)

[1]
[http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920033707.do](http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920033707.do)

[2] [http://en.cppreference.com/w/](http://en.cppreference.com/w/)

------
neverminder
Scala, Java, Rust, Javascript, Typescript, Bash. Not an expert in either of
them and no matter how much I work with Scala and Rust to some extent I always
find something new and usually annoying, but that's the nature of the
profession. Pushing your Sisyphus rock uphill and all that.

------
borge
I know Python, Clojure, C#, Java and to some extent (not so modern) C++.
Python and Clojure is what I use on a daily basis.

I'd love to learn Haskell, and I've actually started, but I've come to the
realization that I should focus more on CS fundamentals instead of just
hoarding languages.

------
stewbrew
Know & use: (these days) R, most of the time.

Wish: I'd like to explore rust, Scala, (oh yes) JavaScript​/typescript, C#/F#
for writing extensions​ for my R code when R is too slow or fragile. I'd like
to avoid C++. I'd be interested in comments on/experiences with that.

------
pxnii
In the order of fluency: C#, C++, Java, Javascript, Python. I know each enough
that I have pet projects in each language, not all the tricks and syntax
shortcuts. I use C# almost exclusively at work. I'd like some chance to learn
functional language, F# may be a start.

------
julian55
These days I mostly use C, Python and JavaScript. In the past I've worked with
assembler, Fortran, Pascal, Modula-2, C++, Java, Tcl, PHP. I've toyed with
Lua, Go, Scheme, Smalltalk, Haskell and ML but I'm not planning to learn any
new languages at present.

------
cpburns2009
I'm proficient in: Python and JavaScript.

I'm rusty in: PHP and Java.

I'm mediocre in: C, C++, and C#.

I want to learn: Rust, Nim, and Lua.

------
catpolice
Know: Javascript, Python, Java, C/C++/C#, some basic knowledge of Common Lisp
and a few others (quickbasic, various scripting or special purpose languages
like Matlab)

Want to learn: Clojure, Haskell, x86 assembly, webassembly, shader languages
(e.g. GLSL)

~~~
catpolice
Personal anecdote: the weirdest language I've ever used was a domain specific
language that was adapted from punch cards used by a bank. It was basically a
really weird assembly language. All the variables had 3-letter names, there
were exactly 256 of them and they were all globally scoped. There was a custom
IDE, but you couldn't freely edit the source as text, the programming was done
via drop menus, where you selected the operation you wanted to perform, then
scrolled through the list of 256 variables to select which variables to use as
arguments...

------
tjalfi
I am fluent in C, C++, and C#. I am currently learning Swift for iOS
development. I will study F# when I am good enough with Swift. I will probably
have to learn JavaScript eventually but am holding out as long as possible.

Edited for grammar.

------
codewritinfool
RPG, COBOL, Fortran (IV, 77), BASIC, BBX, Pascal, Object Pascal, Delphi, C,
PHP, Javascript, assembly for more processors than I can remember.

Yeah, I'm old.

I'd love to learn C++, Python, Erlang, Lua, Ruby, and probably lots more.

------
soulbadguy
I know C++,python and some F#. I mainly learn new language to leanr to think
differently is so, I want to learn a lisp (probably racket/scheme) , a term
rewriting language probably 'Pure'

------
milkthefat
I've been using Powershell for awhile but I've been trying to learn GO. I've
certainly realized my lack of CS fundamentals has made it quite an uphill
battle.

------
anuragsoni
I know C++, Rust(I'm comfortable using it, but I still find out new and better
ways of doing things than what I know) and Python. I want to learn
Haskell/Ocaml.

------
mattnewport
Know (in decreasing order of expertise): C++, C#, HLSL, F#, Python, JavaScript

Want to learn (in decreasing order of interest): Haskell, Rust, Elm,
TypeScript

Zero further interest in: Go, Java, Kotlin

------
3131s
Python and Javascript primarily, but also some Bash and Clojure. I want to go
deeper into Clojure, and learn Haskell, C and maybe Rust and Go among others.

------
hydrocat
Know: C, Python Wish: Rust, Prolog, Common Lisp, Ocaml, Perl PS: my wishlist
includes fluency, not only "to know something in it"

------
acconrad
Know: Python, Ruby, Elixir, Javascript, (deprecated knowledge: Java, C/C++,
OcaML, Scheme)

Want to learn: Haskell, Go, even more Python and Elixir

------
shakna
Fluent, use everyday: Scheme, Python, C

Can use, but probably not the best code: C++, JavaScript, CofeeScript, Java,
Clojure, Rust

Wish I knew: Scala, Ada

------
tony-allan
I know Python well and want to learn Go. I can write simple programs in many
languages (Stack Overflow is my friend!)

------
chauhankiran
I know "ASP Classic" and want to learn PHP as need to learn new tech. Any
suggestion on learning PHP?

~~~
matzy
"want to learn new tech" "PHP"

something doesn't add up

~~~
chauhankiran
Then what's your suggestion for person who is working on 17 years old tech.?

------
slindz
Current daily: Elixir (Phoenix), Javascript (Vue)

Recent-ish daily: Ruby (Rails)

Before that daily: AS3/AS2 (many), PHP (WordPress, Yii, others),

Throughout: HTML/CSS/JS, SQL,

Side note: I was surprised at how short my list was. It feels like it should
be much longer (edit: as if I'm forgetting a bunch).

As far as wanting to learn? I've only scratched the surface on Elixir (~1yr).
Will continue unwrapping that awesomeness for now.

~~~
ellius
Can you explain (as much as you're able) what kind of application you're
building with Elixir + Vue? I've been casually picking up both of those and I
think it's a stack I'd like to make a lot of use of, so I'm curious what your
experience with it has been.

~~~
slindz
I'm building a process engine.

It started out as me building a scheduler (with a focus on repetition) on to
the functionality of Workflowy. Now I'm growing it in to a multi user tool for
knowledge exchange, scheduling, and completion review.

Elixir/Phoenix/Vue have been amazing, every step of the way.

It took me a few months to grok the power in Elixir, but it's amazing to work
with now. Learn the pattern matching. Enum is your friend.

I've used Vue components from day 1, and it's been enough for this former AS3
developer to finally feel ok about Javascript development. So many JS
solutions along the way have felt like rickety messes. Using Vue components
has been a sane middle ground that brings everything together logically
without too much inter-dependence.

I'm not looking to replace this stack anytime soon!

~~~
ellius
Thanks, I really appreciate the response. I want to settle into a stack and
commit to finally building some things, and I think this is the one I'll go
with. I really enjoy some of the Haskell/Idris I'm picking up, but I think in
a middle ground between mindshare and power this will work out pretty
perfectly. I agree regarding Vue: it's the first front end thing I've looked
at that hasn't felt wrong somehow.

------
carlmungz
JavaScript and I want to become seriously proficient in it before digging deep
into other languages.

------
southphillyman
Java, AS3, JS, TS, CS, Perl, Python/Jython

Right now I'm focused on learning Angular2 and mastering DDD

------
flukus
c# is what I know best, but I've done c++, java, javascript, vb.net and maybe
a few others commercially. Apart from dusting off my c a bit lately I want to
learn rust next.

------
rafark
Php and JavaScript. And a little bit of Java. I want learn either java or c++
in the future, but the truth is if I'm going to learn another language is
highly possible that it will be Swift.

------
saget
Know well: Ruby, Python Rusty: Java, C, PHP, Go, C#

------
jo-soft
Use on a daily basis: JavaScript, Coffeescript, Typescipt, CSS, HTML. Konw:
Python, Erlang, Boo, C#, Visual Basic. Want to learn/improve: Erlang, Go, CSS

------
forgetu
C# and Delphi. I want to learn Rust.

------
jcpst
know: Javascript, C#, Bash, HTML/CSS, SQL, Powershell.

previously: Java, Groovy, VB.net.

been learning: Rust, ASM

------
i336_
The languages I used tied pretty heavily to the computers I used.

In chronological order:

\- 7-8 ('98-99): Accidentally broke the menu system on a random old DOS
machine I was given. The person who gave me the box wrote a new menu for it in
QBasic 1.1. This person did not know about "QBASIC /RUN" \+ "SYSTEM", so gave
us instructions ("Alt, F, X") on how to exit QBasic. Of course I _didn 't_
exit QBasic, I tinkered with the menu system. This machine was eventually
returned to the person who gave it to me (along with another).

\- 8 (99): Was given an old 486-25 by a friend; this ran DOS 6.22 and Win3.1.
I think it was assembled by a local computer retailer; the VGA ROM BIOS had
"Eagle Systems Australia" burnt into it. Very curious as to that worked out.
I'm not certain but I don't think this machine had QBasic on it. Windows
eventually fell over (I have no idea why), so I stuck with DOS. I don't
remember much of what I did with this box at this point.

\- ~11 (02): I vaguely recall finding out the machine had something wrong with
it internally (I was _not_ knowledgable to any degree at this point), and
someone from a local church (IIRC?) offered to fix it, which turned out to
mean replacing the HDD (...ah, that explains why Windows fell over). Not quite
sure if the old HDD was copied to the new or how that worked out, but I
remember a parallel cable and Microsoft Backup (although I didn't know that's
what I was looking at at the time), but it had QBasic on it when I got it
back, so I continued tinkering. (A second PC also manifested sometime around
this point, but I didn't have any floppy disks to copy QBasic onto it from the
other machine IIRC.)

~14 (03): Started visiting the local library. I would _so_ like a copy of my
Internet history from back then! Somehow stumbled on QuickBasic 4.5 and was
able to download it onto a floppy disk; didn't use many of its additional
features myself, but tinkered with (and completely failed to understand) some
programs I found online that did. Filled a "QB" directory on my disk full of
embarassing half-finished .

~15: Was randomly given an old Celeron which got me my first exposure to
Win98. Somehow discovered Resource Hacker while at the library one day. This
wasn't a language, but I redesigned the UIs of things like Sound Recorder and
this taught me about visual UI design and got me wondering why program UIs
couldn't be fundamentally edited in some semantically consistent way while
they were running.

\- Found Word on the machine and stumbled on its "Save as HTML" option,
kicking off my foray into the Web. I tried to copy Word to another HDD but
that of course didn't copy the sprawl of 10000 random directories and Registry
keys that accompany an Office installation. Ended up digging StarOffice 5.1
off of a CD that came with a magazine that had been purchased several years
earlier. I learned HTML and JS off of SO, and loved its "desktop" type UI (it
really filtered distractions!). I'm super glad Word broke; I only learned
about the kind of "markup" it produces several years later. If I had've ever
looked at Word-emitted HTML I don't think I would ever have gotten to the
point where I let go of SO and started editing the HTML myself. Once I got to
that point I also began to learn simple JavaScript.

\- While researching Basic-like languages I found VB-DOS on a website one day,
but forgot to download it. Eventually re-found it some time later on another
website that also had Visual Basic (for Windows) 1.0, which I grabbed for
lulz. Ended up deciding VB-DOS was too disjointed (takes several seconds to
switch between the code editor and the form designer) and tried VB 1.0. I....
may or may not have a "VB" directory with ~100 unfinished projects in it. I
had a 450MHz Pentium 3 at this point and my first properly working CD-ROM
drive, but the library Internet download speed was rather slow, I had no idea
how to "find things", and I had no idea how to burn ISOs anyway, so eg VB6
wasn't in my sights at all.

\- ~16-17: Asked the similarly clueless and directionless bunch of kids I was
hanging out with on IRC for language advice, and somehow began to set my
sights on PHP... of all things. (This was where my IQ began its steady
decline. I am not joking.)

\- ~17: Installed Linux, began tinkering. Learned about shell scripting, which
immediately clicked.

\- ~17-19: Somehow managed to grasp pointers after years of trying, and began
to tinker with C a bit. I found it generally required too much attention span
so didn't do much with it.

\- ~22-23 (2013-2014): Found an old Toshiba on the side of the road (the
333MHz Celeron in it was _removable_) and tried to install Slackware on it
from a somewhat scratched CD. PHP was on the scratched part. I wanted to write
a fast package selection utility; the only thing I was aware of on the machine
besides bash was sed and grep. IIRC, I had to abandon my attempts after less
than a week due to all the grep and (multiline!) sed expressions giving me a
headache because it collectively looked like modem line noise, but I learned
regular expressions in the process :D

\--

I'd like to learn so many languages I don't honestly know where to start.

\- I recently read about the golang SSL key-verification incident, and must
say the devs' reaction inspired a lot of confidence. I've also been reading a
Go ebook for the past month or two. This is the language I plan to use next.

\- I'm also reading a Lua ebook too. This language is awesome.

\- I've come to realize I've been treating PHP like Perl. Half of me wishes
I'd gone back and learned Perl instead, and that it's sad Perl doesn't have
fast Web server integration or even standard FastCGI (at least I'm not seeing
that it does). One the other hand, reading things like
[http://blog.schmorp.de/2016-12-29-griefing-the-perl-
api.html](http://blog.schmorp.de/2016-12-29-griefing-the-perl-api.html) and
the 2nd half of [http://blog.schmorp.de/2015-11-12-tidbits-why-coro-
crashes-o...](http://blog.schmorp.de/2015-11-12-tidbits-why-coro-crashes-or-
how-perl-6-deals-with-bugs.html) scares me off of both Perl 5 and Perl 6.

\- Erlang seems really interesting both from the standpoint of being message-
passing-based and also due to the fact that it runs its own kernel. I'm
wondering whether to just deal with Erlang's variable immutability (a
linguistic paradox!) or whether I should play with EFL or Elixir.

\- Obviously Lisp is somewhere in there. I'm unsure which one(s) to learn
though: I want to get a good idea of Lisp's history, understand its context,
and fully grasp what it is about it that everyone likes, so I have a bit of a
Star Wars problem - what order to learn everything.

\- I'm very very turned off of Python due to the 2.x/3.x debacle.

\- Assembly language has been on my todo list since I was about 14. This one's
a sore point; I've read more assembly-language tutorials than I could care to
recount but always end up near-tearfully confused with eyes glazed over.
Hopefully I can figure out what it actually is that I'm blocking on one of
these days. Maybe I should skip asm and just go straight for machine code.

\- I recently discovered the Forth family of languages. I have to say I really
really like the Forth approach to programming - creating shrinkwrapped
applications that perfectly trace the specifications of whatever you're trying
to build, with zero architectural overhead. I'm going one step at a time with
the RPN thing though. :P

\- I recently realized that Ruby is easy to abuse to "be cute" but that it can
also be written straightforwardly and consistently. I didn't know that, I like
this a lot (because its syntax _is_ nice). I remember reading Why's Poingiant
Guide to Ruby a few years ago and being heavily turned off by the way the
guide made things seem dramatic and complicated. (I now realize my attention
span was being spammed by the guide's presentational style.)

\- I'm guessing I should probably pick up Java at some point, since it will
probably come in handy in industry.

\- On the subject of the JVM, I could probably do worse than to learn Scheme.

\- C++ has been on my todo list for some time, but my computers are still
quite old (I'm on an 11 year old laptop as of today), so slow compilers are
doubly+ slow for me, so I have little incentive to pursue this.

I have a lot of problems with indecision, as you may have noticed :) - if
something has surface-level issues, I shy away. I will admit that this is in
open contradiction to the fact that I continue to learn PHP...

My main challenge is in finding a language I can enjoy working with that
doesn't require a consistently clear brain to work with: I frequently have a
foggy head due to various health issues (which are expensive to fix - and,
hilariously, are also why I don't have a job).

~~~
shakna
> My main challenge is in finding a language I can enjoy working with that
> doesn't require a consistently clear brain to work with: I frequently have a
> foggy head due to various health issues (which are expensive to fix - and,
> hilariously, are also why I don't have a job).

There aren't many. I say this as someone whose head also gets screwed over by
health.

Really, probably the language you are most familiar will fill the niche,
because of muscle memory and the like.

However, the languages I find easiest on my bad days (not the worst, because
programming is impossible on those):

* Python, because I know it really well

* Scheme, because it can't get much simpler. You can learn 90% of syntax, macros, types and functions in a (good) day or two. Edit: Look for Chicken for fast compilation, and Racket for many libraries. (Racket is Scheme+more, so not really scheme.)

* Forth, basically the same reasons as Scheme.

* Awk. It's a lispy C. The docs are fairly decent, and though its way of handling stuff can be a bit unusual (BEGIN, END, and in between that, something that runs on every line of input), its pretty effective as a programming language, and hasn't changed for a long time, making all tutorials and docs up to scratch.

Of all of those, Scheme is the simplest when my brain refuses to count to 5.
(Seriously, it gets stuck at random points if I try on a bad day).

~~~
i336_
> _There aren 't many. I say this as someone whose head also gets screwed over
> by health._

Interesting. Maybe we should compare notes sometimes. I have a bit of a story
with finding alternative-type stuff.

\- I've been contemplating tackling Python, in spite of the 2.x/3.x thing.
There's the perfect vacuum where versioning shouldn't be a problem, and the
practical real world where knowing Python and the differences between the two
will let me actually do interesting things.

\- Thanks for the tidbit about Scheme - and about Chicken vs Racket!

\- ColorForth is particularly interesting, and I found BigFORTH a little while
back (which needed to be compiled with -O0 in order to not segfault, yay). Of
course "make my own Forth " is in there somewhere :P

\- I completely forgot to mention Awk (!) mostly because I have no idea at
what point I began to pick it up, but I did get a basic idea of how it works a
while ago, and I've been factoring it into shell pipelines more frequently
lately. It's great for when I need to do something that sed can't express well
(and I just _properly read_ about how match() a) returns the index and b)
_also works apropos to grep_ recently, which is great)

(As an aside, Lua is ~200K and awk is ~632K. That is just _wrong._ [Mumbling
about rewrite])

I'm reasonably familiar with the "not wanting to count to 5" thing... heh.
Interesting about the Scheme thing in that context. I'll definitely have to
give it a look.

~~~
shakna
> Interesting. Maybe we should compare notes sometimes. I have a bit of a
> story with finding alternative-type stuff.

I really like the theory of programming, and am constantly looking for
languages that are

a) easier to write

b) amazingly expressive

Its always finding what's out there.

> \- I've been contemplating tackling Python, in spite of the 2.x/3.x thing.
> There's the perfect vacuum where versioning shouldn't be a problem, and the
> practical real world where knowing Python and the differences between the
> two will let me actually do interesting things.

Thankfully, that's mostly gone now. Few enterprises still holding out, but
most of the big libraries are 2/3 or 3 only.

And 3 is a lot more thought-out. Most of the warts are gone.

> \- I completely forgot to mention Awk (!) mostly because I have no idea at
> what point I began to pick it up, but I did get a basic idea of how it works
> a while ago, and I've been factoring it into shell pipelines more frequently
> lately. It's great for when I need to do something that sed can't express
> well (and I just properly read about how match() a) returns the index and b)
> also works apropos to grep recently, which is great)

Awk is different, but great.

I had a boss at a previous job who'd used it for at least a decade for
everything, so I had to learn the nitty-gritty.

I ended up building a CGI application that basically ran the entire website in
Awk. Big learning experience, but rather cool.

> (As an aside, Lua is ~200K and awk is ~632K. That is just wrong. [Mumbling
> about rewrite])

Mmm. That does hurt.

But, at least Lua is an amazing language too, if a bit odd at times.

> I'm reasonably familiar with the "not wanting to count to 5" thing... heh.
> Interesting about the Scheme thing in that context. I'll definitely have to
> give it a look.

Scheme is stupid simple. Which is awesome.

Everything looks like:

( function arg arg arg )

So, Hello, World!

(display "Hello, World!")

Also, if a function ends with !, then it modifies state, and isn't really
functional.

(set! varname value)

And finally, Scheme's macros are hygienic (don't interfere with variables that
exist), and fairly simple:

    
    
        (define-syntax (syntax-rules (swap! x y)
          (let ([tmp x])
            (set! x y)
            (set! y tmp))))
    

After working a little while with it, those parenthesis won't be as scary, and
you probably won't even notice them.

SICP also has lectures on Youtube [0], if you want a more formal way to get to
grips with Scheme.

[0]
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Op3QLzMgSY](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Op3QLzMgSY)

~~~
i336_
>> I've been contemplating tackling Python, in spite of the 2.x/3.x thing.
(...)

> _Thankfully, that 's mostly gone now. Few enterprises still holding out, but
> most of the big libraries are 2/3 or 3 only._

Oh okay. I think I got got mildly tangled by
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13019819](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=13019819)
a little while back.

> _Awk is different, but great._

> _I had a boss at a previous job who 'd used it for at least a decade for
> everything, so I had to learn the nitty-gritty._

> _I ended up building a CGI application that basically ran the entire website
> in Awk. Big learning experience, but rather cool._

Oh _nice_. That's kind of awesome.

(I was referring to gawk when I mentioned the 632K thing.)

> _But, at least Lua is an amazing language too, if a bit odd at times._

I seriously don't understand why they won't allow ++ and -- and similar
conveniences we've grown to almost expect from other languages...

 _(info about (Scheme))_

This syntax looks fairly familiar (Lisp syntax is after all incredibly
reductionist) and I remember ! from Ruby.

> _After working a little while with it, those parenthesis won 't be as scary,
> and you probably won't even notice them._

Haha, I remember someone telling me that about {} in C-like languages (PHP) a
decade ago. I still notice them... but I know where to use them and what
they're for now.

I don't think my brain will sprout a number-of-closing-parens-needed checker
anytime soon;
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subitizing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Subitizing)
is generally established to be mentally impossible for >4 items, so...
(putting (everything) in parens) is fun, but s)t))ac))))ki))n)g) the closing
ones onto single lines is... well all my brain's coming up with is a slightly
incredulous blank stare.

\--

By the way: I'm not quite sure how relevant this is to wherever you are (which
I haven't been able to concretely ascertain), but I'm in Sydney. Curious to
learn how far away I am from you, perhaps via email.

(I may have poked through some of your tales... and now I have to deal with a
brain that's scrambling around trying to find a signup button so I can trail
along with you sometime. =P)

PS. Just hit HN's post ratelimit for the first time, which was why this took a
while to appear. Sorry!

~~~
shakna
> which I haven't been able to concretely ascertain

I do have fun befuddling geo stuff online. But these days, somewhere around
Melbourne.

> I may have poked through some of your tales...

There's a website, with RSS in my HN account. Have fun!

~~~
i336_
>> which I haven't been able to concretely ascertain

> _I do have fun befuddling geo stuff online. But these days, somewhere around
> Melbourne._

Ah, cool.

>> I may have poked through some of your tales...

> _There 's a website, with RSS in my HN account. Have fun!_

Will definitely be reading through all of them ^^

Thanks very much for explaining what you did. I really appreciated that - I've
never been able to compare languages by "easiest to understand when not
mentally having a good day" before, which was great.

(NB. It's currently tricky for me to meet people IRL, so I'm always on the
lookout when I say hi to people in the same country :) No worries!)

------
amirouche
Know: Scheme, Python, Javascript

Want: Rust

------
gdfer
know: java, groovy, javascript --- want to learn next: python

~~~
vorg
Python's certainly a more standard language for doing scripty things with than
Apache Groovy is.

------
sevensor
Know: Python (daily) C (enough to avoid the dragons most of the time, not
enough to slay them) C++ (only the bad parts) x86 asm (rusty, did real-mode
asm for thrills in a bygone era) BASIC (because I'm old)

Want to learn: Racket (for the parentheses) one of the MLs (for the types)
Lean (because theorem provers are magic) Rust (at least enough to respond
intelligently to "just rewrite it in Rust!")

