Question for the senior (not age) participants here

[Ed]

By "Senoir", I mean "guru"-level knowledge AND (not OR) an equivalent
level of experience with C. Experts, BEYOND "journeyman" (if you know
what that means). I did NOT mean a person's age. Actually, now that I'm
typing this, I realize I have more than just one question and it's an
informal poll now. The intent is not to be statistical, but rather to get
an idea of what people here are doing.

1. Do you program in other languages (computer-languages, not
people-languages)? If so, which ones and please give percentages in any
fashion you wish, stated or unstated, it doesn't matter, cuz this is not
a statistical poll.

2. Would you learn and use (the latter, if it was your choice, not your
employer's, for example) a new language if it was "better" ("better",
meaning that it had the right combinations of features that you would
want in a PL)? (Assume all the surrounding things, like tool-support are
already there and that it is NOT a grass-roots-type endeavor. Do not
assume there is job ads for it though, for only you as a developer have
privy to the information about the new language).

3 (optional. (As if the 1 and 2 above weren't! LOL). In a nutshell,
describe a programming language you would use if it was available (can be
general-purpose, system-level, domain-specific, whatever) without using
the name of any existing programming language. In a nutshell (make a new
thread if you want to ramble-on about it please).

4. Please give your age. (JUST KIDDING!)

Number 2 above is what I was going to ask when I opened the post window.
The other thoughts came after. So #2 was and is my primary curiosity.

 

[Todd Blackmon]

By "Senoir", I mean "guru"-level knowledge AND (not OR) an equivalent
level of experience with C. Experts, BEYOND "journeyman" (if you know
what that means). I did NOT mean a person's age. Actually, now that I'm
typing this, I realize I have more than just one question and it's an
informal poll now. The intent is not to be statistical, but rather to get
an idea of what people here are doing.

1. Do you program in other languages (computer-languages, not
people-languages)? If so, which ones and please give percentages in any
fashion you wish, stated or unstated, it doesn't matter, cuz this is not
a statistical poll.

Sure, Perl, Bash shell for higher level tasks. Amazing how quickly
you can program certain things in these languages. But for critical
apps, lower level is generally better.

2. Would you learn and use (the latter, if it was your choice, not your
employer's, for example) a new language if it was "better" ("better",
meaning that it had the right combinations of features that you would
want in a PL)? (Assume all the surrounding things, like tool-support are
already there and that it is NOT a grass-roots-type endeavor. Do not
assume there is job ads for it though, for only you as a developer have
privy to the information about the new language).

If appropriate, it's worth a look. The language/syntax itself doesn't
matter as long as it fits the job.

 

[Malcolm McLean]

1. Do you program in other languages (computer-languages, not
people-languages)? If so, which ones and please give percentages in any
fashion you wish, stated or unstated, it doesn't matter, cuz this is not
a statistical poll.

I never hard-code directories or filenames into C programs. Where it
is necessary to do processing on such names, I use Perl. So often a
complex C program has a short Perl driver script.

I use Fortran and Matlab, mainly for compatability with others.

2. Would you learn and use (the latter, if it was your choice, not your
employer's, for example) a new language if it was "better" ("better",
meaning that it had the right combinations of features that you would
want in a PL)? (Assume all the surrounding things, like tool-support are
already there and that it is NOT a grass-roots-type endeavor. Do not
assume there is job ads for it though, for only you as a developer have
privy to the information about the new language).

No, I program in C unless there is an overwhelming reason to use
another language.

3 (optional. (As if the 1 and 2 above weren't! LOL). In a nutshell,
describe a programming language you would use if it was available (can be
general-purpose, system-level, domain-specific, whatever) without using
the name of any existing programming language. In a nutshell (make a new
thread if you want to ramble-on about it please).

There's no point in a C with extra widgets. I dislike object-
orientation as a design methodology. I'd add buffer protection etc to
C, under the boonet, rather than try to develop yet another computer
language.


I'm interested in radically different languages, eg Lisp, but I
haven't had time or occasion to explore them properly.

 

[John Bode]

1. Do you program in other languages (computer-languages, not
people-languages)? If so, which ones and please give percentages in any
fashion you wish, stated or unstated, it doesn't matter, cuz this is not
a statistical poll.

Yes. C++ and Java, mainly (with occasional forays into SQL). I haven't
written C code professionally for about 7 years now.

2. Would you learn and use (the latter, if it was your choice, not your
employer's, for example) a new language if it was "better" ("better",
meaning that it had the right combinations of features that you would
want in a PL)? (Assume all the surrounding things, like tool-support are
already there and that it is NOT a grass-roots-type endeavor. Do not
assume there is job ads for it though, for only you as a developer have
privy to the information about the new language).

I occasionally get a wild hair and try to learn a new language in my
spare time (latest one was Haskell) just because something about it
fascinates me, not necessarily because it's "better" at any particular
task. I don't do that much programming in my free time anymore,
though.

 

[Nick Keighley]

By "Senoir", I mean "guru"-level knowledge AND (not OR) an equivalent
level of experience with C. Experts, BEYOND "journeyman" (if you know
what that means). I did NOT mean a person's age.

a Master of C?

Actually, now that I'm
typing this, I realize I have more than just one question and it's an
informal poll now. The intent is not to be statistical, but rather to get
an idea of what people here are doing.

1. Do you program in other languages
yes

(computer-languages, not people-languages)?

you *program* in a people language?

If so, which ones and please give percentages

80% C, a fair chunk of C++, a smattering of perl, python, scheme, bash

in any
fashion you wish, stated or unstated,

what does "stated or unstated" mean?

it doesn't matter, cuz this is not
a statistical poll.

2. Would you learn and use (the latter, if it was your choice, not your
employer's, for example) a new language if it was "better"

I don't accept that any language is "better" than another (unless
"another" is BASIC )

("better",
meaning that it had the right combinations of features that you would
want in a PL)?

which isn't my definition of "better".

If you meant to ask:

"would I learn and use a new language if had a better fit of features
for a particular problem domain?"

the answer would have to be "yes" because I have. I don't
particularly like perl but it's a good fit for certain problems, so I
use it.

(Assume all the surrounding things, like tool-support are
already there

the tool support is part of input to the decision process.

and that it is NOT a grass-roots-type endeavor.

what? DYM green-field? Are we talking about democracy in the
development team or how new the development is, or what?

Do not
assume there is job ads for it though, for only you as a developer have
privy to the information about the new language).

I learn a language if it is useful or interesting. I'd consider
learning a language if it was popular.

3 (optional. (As if the 1 and 2 above weren't! LOL). In a nutshell,
describe a programming language you would use if it was available

you mean invent a language? Describe an idealised language? Describe
my ideal language (it doesn't exist).

I suppose a varient of Scheme with C's bit-banging operators would be
interesting. I'd like to learn a proper functional language sometime.
Erlang looks interesting. The whole concept of DSLs is interesting.

(can be
general-purpose, system-level, domain-specific, whatever) without using
the name of any existing programming language.

seems a bizzare constraint

In a nutshell (make a new
thread if you want to ramble-on about it please).

4. Please give your age. (JUST KIDDING!)

pre space-age

Number 2 above is what I was going to ask when I opened the post window.
The other thoughts came after. So #2 was and is my primary curiosity.

--

"ALGOL 60 was a language so far ahead of its time that it
was not only an improvement on its predecessors but also
on nearly all its successors".
--C.A.R. Hoare


One of the coolest feature of lisp is that it isn't a language but a
building material.


Scheme wanting to be considered a Lisp is like Robert E. Lee wanting
to
keep his commission in the United States Army.


SICP is the most important printed literature to develop
from our species in the 20th century.
(Amazon Review)

 

[Nick Keighley]

1. Do you program in other languages (computer-languages, not
people-languages)? [...]

Sure, Perl, Bash shell for higher level tasks.  Amazing how quickly
you can program certain things in these languages.  

amazing how often you have to read the bloody manual to find out what
twisted and arcane syntax is needed to describe the simplest concept


<snip>

 

[Ersek, Laszlo]

you *program* in a people language?

(Binding "you" to the indefinite you): absolutely.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_engineering

lacos

 

[Tim Streater]

1. Do you program in other languages (computer-languages, not
people-languages)? [...]

Sure, Perl, Bash shell for higher level tasks.  Amazing how quickly
you can program certain things in these languages.  

amazing how often you have to read the bloody manual to find out what
twisted and arcane syntax is needed to describe the simplest concept

Yes, that's why I never use that rubbish even for CLI scripts. PHP does
all I need.

 

[Malcolm McLean]

amazing how often you have to read the bloody manual to find out what
twisted and arcane syntax is needed to describe the simplest concept

I find that with Perl as well.

 

[Nick Keighley]

On Jun 28, 12:22 pm, Nick Keighley <[email protected]>

I find that with Perl as well.

it was perl and bash I was thinking of...

 

[Ed]

(Binding "you" to the indefinite you): absolutely.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_engineering

lacos

I know some people here don't grok English well (especially me! ) so I
wanted to preclude anyone from thinking that I was talking about using
Unicode Kanji identifiers in source code and the like rather than using
another programming language.