4 ms·

Seven Languages: A Pragmatic Guide to Learning Programming Languages

18 points by j_baker 17y ago

delluminatus 17y ago
Interesting language choices. I suppose they were picked to provide an introduction to various paradigms. Let's see: Ruby - Dynamically typed, scripting language Io - Not sure. Smalltalk-esque object orientation, I guess. Prolog - Crazy logic programming! Scala - Functional? JVM? (does he really need this and haskell and Clojure?) Erlang - I guess this is like a demonstration of concurrency and actors? Or something? Clojure - Woo! A lisp dialect! Haskell - Functional, strongly-typed. I think I would take out Scala and put in something more imperative and different, like Go, C#, or Lua. I might also replace Ruby with Python. I learned Ruby as my first language and I find myself using Python a lot more anyways (Ruby is sexier though, I admit). The idea itself might not be sound. (A language a week? Talk about a crash course!) I'm tempted to get it anyways. It's a unique approach, so props to the author for that.
- plesn 17y ago
  Another book taking this kind of horizontal approach explains different programming paradigms rather than concrete languages: "Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming" by Peter Van Roy and Seif Haridi (http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/~pvr/book.html http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/~pvr/book.html). It is IMHO a deeply illuminating book.
  - gtani 17y ago
    Yeah, CTMCP is becoming a SICP-like acronym. Here's the for Dummies version http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/~pvr/VanRoyChapter.pdf http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/~pvr/VanRoyChapter.pdf
- draegtun 17y ago
  Io - Not sure. Smalltalk-esque object orientation, I guess. They chose/described Io as being the The minimalist prototype language ref: http://www.pragprog.com/news/core-data-in-print-seven-languages http://www.pragprog.com/news/core-data-in-print-seven-langua...
  - runevault 17y ago
    some of the section on IO is included in free preview, and looked interesting. I find it funny that most of the languages had some feature or the like to recommend them and why they are worth learning (Haskell = type system and functional purity, Clojure = a Lisp, Io for prototyping, Erlang for concurrency/actors, etc) but Scala is just "this is a hot new language". Especially since some things got knocked out for not offering anything you could not get in the other offered languages.
- gtani 17y ago
  other languages he could've included: - F# (my fav) - ocaml - common lisp - scheme - python - lua - factor
Tichy 17y ago
I always wanted to learn Prolog. Is there still a use for it these days?
- weaksauce 17y ago
  I just learned a bit of it for a class in programming languages(paradigms, assembly(simple), prolog, haskell, perl) prolog is a bit of a pain to work with if the problem is mildly imperative in nature. It is very useful if the problem is or can be written in a declarative fashion. That's just my take on it from learning a bit of it for a class though. I am sure if you are a veteran at it you will be able to make it bend to might.
- j_baker 17y ago
  It's a bit like lisp was traditionally. You'll probably never find an employer that will allow you to use it. But it's worth it just to understand a new way of thinking about programming.
- hairsupply 17y ago
  The jokes are still relevant. Q: How many Prolog developers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A: No
abreu_alexandre 17y ago
I bought the book and love it so far; it is not yet complete but the intents of the author are clearly geared toward a rather deep (limited by space though) review of the selected languages; all this is supported by meaningful projects to get passed the syntax and have a feel of the core decisions that underline every language, good work so far!

18 points by j_baker 17y ago

Interesting language choices. I suppose they were picked to provide an introduction to various paradigms. Let's see: Ruby - Dynamically typed, scripting language Io - Not sure. Smalltalk-esque object orientation, I guess. Prolog - Crazy logic programming! Scala - Functional? JVM? (does he really need this and haskell and Clojure?) Erlang - I guess this is like a demonstration of concurrency and actors? Or something? Clojure - Woo! A lisp dialect! Haskell - Functional, strongly-typed. I think I would take out Scala and put in something more imperative and different, like Go, C#, or Lua. I might also replace Ruby with Python. I learned Ruby as my first language and I find myself using Python a lot more anyways (Ruby is sexier though, I admit). The idea itself might not be sound. (A language a week? Talk about a crash course!) I'm tempted to get it anyways. It's a unique approach, so props to the author for that.

plesn 17y ago
Another book taking this kind of horizontal approach explains different programming paradigms rather than concrete languages: "Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming" by Peter Van Roy and Seif Haridi (http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/~pvr/book.html http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/~pvr/book.html). It is IMHO a deeply illuminating book.
- gtani 17y ago
  Yeah, CTMCP is becoming a SICP-like acronym. Here's the for Dummies version http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/~pvr/VanRoyChapter.pdf http://www.info.ucl.ac.be/~pvr/VanRoyChapter.pdf
draegtun 17y ago
Io - Not sure. Smalltalk-esque object orientation, I guess. They chose/described Io as being the The minimalist prototype language ref: http://www.pragprog.com/news/core-data-in-print-seven-languages http://www.pragprog.com/news/core-data-in-print-seven-langua...
- runevault 17y ago
  some of the section on IO is included in free preview, and looked interesting. I find it funny that most of the languages had some feature or the like to recommend them and why they are worth learning (Haskell = type system and functional purity, Clojure = a Lisp, Io for prototyping, Erlang for concurrency/actors, etc) but Scala is just "this is a hot new language". Especially since some things got knocked out for not offering anything you could not get in the other offered languages.
gtani 17y ago
other languages he could've included: - F# (my fav) - ocaml - common lisp - scheme - python - lua - factor

Tichy 17y ago

I always wanted to learn Prolog. Is there still a use for it these days?

weaksauce 17y ago
I just learned a bit of it for a class in programming languages(paradigms, assembly(simple), prolog, haskell, perl) prolog is a bit of a pain to work with if the problem is mildly imperative in nature. It is very useful if the problem is or can be written in a declarative fashion. That's just my take on it from learning a bit of it for a class though. I am sure if you are a veteran at it you will be able to make it bend to might.
j_baker 17y ago
It's a bit like lisp was traditionally. You'll probably never find an employer that will allow you to use it. But it's worth it just to understand a new way of thinking about programming.
hairsupply 17y ago
The jokes are still relevant. Q: How many Prolog developers does it take to screw in a lightbulb? A: No

abreu_alexandre 17y ago

I bought the book and love it so far; it is not yet complete but the intents of the author are clearly geared toward a rather deep (limited by space though) review of the selected languages; all this is supported by meaningful projects to get passed the syntax and have a feel of the core decisions that underline every language, good work so far!