[newb101]

Is it better to advance in a few language or have knowledge of all the languages?

[jjsaw5]

newb101, on 13 Jun, 2008 - 09:39 AM, said:

Is it better to advance in a few language or have knowledge of all the languages?

I would suggest learning learning multiple languages it makes you more diverse and adaptable. You won't be limited to what you can do, and it will make you more appealing to employers.



In the future when making posts please read the guidelines and the big yellow box that appears when you attempt to make a post. Try to avoid thread titles like "Please Answer" "need help now" use informative titles. This will better help us find your question and answer it.

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[1lacca]

I'd say if you master some language, you pretty much know all of them, and you can learn one overnight.
Pick one from the big groups, and you are on track: a declarative(SQL), an imperative (C whatever, but preferably OO), a scripting language, and whatever I missed (maybe some low-level thing can't hurt, but C gurus usually say it is low enough). You'll see that they follow pretty much the same route, and the most important libraries are usually ported between them, or there are enough similarities so they won't cause much headache.

[AmitTheInfinity]

newb101, on 13 Jun, 2008 - 07:09 PM, said:

Is it better to advance in a few language or have knowledge of all the languages?

I would say... " Be a Jack of all and Master of One."

[1lacca]

(Oh yes, I edited the title a bit, so if the second half of jjsaw5's post wouldn't make sense to someone, then this is the reason )

[newb101]

1lacca, on 13 Jun, 2008 - 06:57 AM, said:

(Oh yes, I edited the title a bit, so if the second half of jjsaw5's post wouldn't make sense to someone, then this is the reason )

lol good looking out for the new guy

[mensahero]

newb101, on 13 Jun, 2008 - 06:39 AM, said:

Is it better to advance in a few language or have knowledge of all the languages?

IMO.. learn the basics first.. whatever language you choose.. they all have the same basics..

variable declaration
data types
conditional statement
loops
arrays

Correct me if I missed something.. well if you master those.. or atleast has a clear knowledge about them.. then try another language.. you will see that.. they all share the same principles.. but only differ in approach.. which is syntax.. lmao..

Those are really IMPORTANT.. IMO they are the foundation of programming.. lmao..

[born2c0de]

Quote

I would say... " Be a Jack of all and Master of One."

I was going to say the exact same thing

[NickDMax]

My opinion: Master one language. Learning about other languages will help you master that language, and you will find that other languages get easier and easier to pick up.

While knowing one language may make it easer to learn the basic syntax and techniques in another languages, it generally will not familiarize you with the framworks and libraries etc. that make that language really useful.

For example, I can get by in PHP. Its pretty easy. But there are lots of libraries and framworks that actually go into making software on that platform -- and I have only a faint passing knowledge of their existence. So while learning PHP has increased my overall understanding on computing and has helped me understand other technologies, I can't really say that I am a PHP developer.

I say master one, because lets face it -- any one language (and its related technologies) is quite a large bite. I work in Java EE, and I am learning new things nearly every project. Sure I can program in Java -- whoopdee doo. I have to know about HTML, CSS, Javascript, XML, XPath, XSLT, Struts, Hibernate, Spring, Log4J, jQuery, xQuery, SQL, and on and on and on.

In my spare time I try to keep a passing familiarity with the C++ world (Qt, Gtk, Boost, Windows API, Linux Kernel etc.).

It does not take long to learn a language -- but to USE a language takes quite a lot of work and to master a language you need to learn how the language is used -- the only practical way I know of doing that is to really roll up your sleeves and use it.

[Fireplay]

I agree with the rest of you, if you understand every aspects of one language it will be easyer with the rest of them becouse you will find something that is familiar in the other languages, so I would have suggested to learn one and then learn one more and one more and so on till jo are master in one and know what the rest are and some basics about them, atleast thats the way I'm gonna do it

[OliveOyl3471]

Thanks for this question.
I've been trying to learn a lot of languages all at once and it's difficult.

So I'd have to agree with the others.

This post has been edited by OliveOyl3471: 15 June 2008 - 12:42 AM

[WolfCoder]

I recommend learning C first, my professor made a good point that it's like the "Latin" of programming languages, you learn it and it makes learning just about anything easier since you understand the most basic stuff- and all the ways you can shoot yourself in the foot as well^^

[Tom9729]

I could've sworn I already posted in this thread...

Don't just learn the language, actually learn how to program. Usually the only significant thing that changes between languages is the syntax.

If you learn how to express your ideas as algorithms, how to use conditional statements and loops, and how to break a big problem down into functions, you probably won't have much trouble getting used to any language.

[crcapps]

Here are the gems that I extracted from those who posted before me.

1lacca, on 13 Jun, 2008 - 06:56 AM, said:

Pick one from the big groups, and you are on track: a declarative(SQL), an imperative (C whatever, but preferably OO), a scripting language, and whatever I missed (maybe some low-level thing can't hurt, but C gurus usually say it is low enough).

Yes. Languages can be quite similar, and if you learn one in each kind of category, you have a handle on something much bigger than the sum of its parts.

AmitTheInfinity, on 13 Jun, 2008 - 06:56 AM, said:

I would say... " Be a Jack of all and Master of One."

This is definitely sound advice. Have a specialty, then a general base of knowledge for other ones, and you'll be well-rounded. Mastery of one, leads to mastery of the category. For example, I started out in C++ and Java, which, after more experience, led to my specialty being in the "C-Like" languages, which means my main bag is the domain of C++, C#, Java, and PERL, for the most part. Can't go wrong with the C-Likes.

WolfCoder, on 15 Jun, 2008 - 07:26 PM, said:

I recommend learning C first, my professor made a good point that it's like the "Latin" of programming languages, you learn it and it makes learning just about anything easier since you understand the most basic stuff- and all the ways you can shoot yourself in the foot as well^^

Start on the hardest thing first, and everything will fall into place. Start out coding Ruby on Rails, and, well, Ruby on Rails is probably all you'd ever be able to code.

Tom9729, on 15 Jun, 2008 - 08:35 PM, said:

Don't just learn the language, actually learn how to program. Usually the only significant thing that changes between languages is the syntax.

If you learn how to express your ideas as algorithms, how to use conditional statements and loops, and how to break a big problem down into functions, you probably won't have much trouble getting used to any language.

This is the biggest thing of all. If you can program, you can program. Algorithm design is algorithm design- if you can design it, you can implement it as long as you have a syntax reference is at hand. You can be the best programmer in the world and only know pseudocode, except you'd be hard-pressed to test your results.