A
Adam Gardner
So, I've been programming in Ruby for a good while now. Not an expert,
not by a long shot, by I know my way around.
I've also been reading a lot of Steve Yegge's blog lately. Both his more
recent stuff [1], and his older, Amazon-era stuff [2]. Interesting
stuff.
One of the things that Yegge harps on a lot is how important practice is
for programmers, especially 'cross-training': that is, learning to use
languages other than your favorite, not just because they might be
useful in their own right, but because it will make you a better
programmer in *any* language.
I've decided to do as he suggests, but I'm unsure what I should start
with. Some languages I'm considering are:
1) Lisp/Scheme
2) Erlang
3) Smalltalk
4) C
I should note that I'm on OS X, and my primary concern is learning, not
necessarily making something meaningful (the exception being C, which
really has more of a grit-my-teeth-and-learn-it-because-it's-useful
position on the list). I'm also somewhat time-limited, so the less time
I have to spend compiling and installing things, the more time I have to
play with code.
(Also, I know this is the Ruby list, not the Lisp, Smalltalk, etc list.
But I'm a Ruby programmer, and I want the perspective of other Ruby
programmers).
All that being said, what languages, other than Ruby, do people enjoy
and recommend?
[1] http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/
[2] http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/blog-rants
not by a long shot, by I know my way around.
I've also been reading a lot of Steve Yegge's blog lately. Both his more
recent stuff [1], and his older, Amazon-era stuff [2]. Interesting
stuff.
One of the things that Yegge harps on a lot is how important practice is
for programmers, especially 'cross-training': that is, learning to use
languages other than your favorite, not just because they might be
useful in their own right, but because it will make you a better
programmer in *any* language.
I've decided to do as he suggests, but I'm unsure what I should start
with. Some languages I'm considering are:
1) Lisp/Scheme
2) Erlang
3) Smalltalk
4) C
I should note that I'm on OS X, and my primary concern is learning, not
necessarily making something meaningful (the exception being C, which
really has more of a grit-my-teeth-and-learn-it-because-it's-useful
position on the list). I'm also somewhat time-limited, so the less time
I have to spend compiling and installing things, the more time I have to
play with code.
(Also, I know this is the Ruby list, not the Lisp, Smalltalk, etc list.
But I'm a Ruby programmer, and I want the perspective of other Ruby
programmers).
All that being said, what languages, other than Ruby, do people enjoy
and recommend?
[1] http://steve-yegge.blogspot.com/
[2] http://steve.yegge.googlepages.com/blog-rants