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Waste of time? Quite a lot of fun things could be considered a waste of time. Learning new languages can be fun. People learning one language and sticking wi

by Jesin 19y ago

Waste of time? Quite a lot of fun things could be considered a waste of time. Learning new languages can be fun. People learning one language and sticking with it for life is why COBOL stuck around for so long, and Java seems to be going the same way. EDIT: I just read the article. Maybe it's just that many of the languages I've been learning have had little syntax and no operator precedence quirks (or any operator precedence whatsoever). I also noticed the article made the same comment about COBOL and Java that I did. I really should read these things first. Anyway, I guess as a high school freshman I'm still at the point where learning new languages is really the best I can do.

jrockway 19y ago
> Maybe it's just that many of the languages I've been learning have had little syntax and no operator precedence quirks This is a good point. It is probably not a good use of your time to learn Java and then C# (or similar), or Perl and then Python and Ruby. Sure, there are differences, but basically the languages in the same groups are the same. If you go for the more "academic" languages, you'll get more return on your learning investment. Recently, I've learned Lisp (this is what started me down the "wait, learning new languages isn't a waste of time!" path), Smalltalk, and OCaml, and I've picked up a lot of good ideas to port to my primary language. (Otherwise, my background before that was C, Perl, and Haskell. All good languages to know :)
gustavo_duarte 19y ago
By all means, play around with different languages when you're getting started. I think it's really important to be exposed to different languages as part of your education, be it undergrad or (for you as it was for me) junior/high school. But even in your situation, I'd say balance languages with other knowledge that is important. It's easy to play with languages because it's fun, but there's a lot of other important stuff to learn, some of which might make more practical difference to you. But by all means, learn and have fun. If you're getting a kick out of languages, have at it, especially if you've got plenty of time.
- pg 19y ago
  I think it's really important to be exposed to different languages as part of your education And is one's education supposed to stop?
  - gustavo_duarte 19y ago
    No, it's supposed to evolve. And what makes sense when you're getting started may not be the best use of your time later on.
- Jesin 19y ago
  > If you're getting a kick out of languages, have at it, especially if you've got plenty of time. Plenty of time? No, not the school I go to. What I do have is the syslab, which is full of Linux boxen and a lot of smart people, especially during lunch. Attached to the syslab is a small library (formerly storage closet) of programming-related books, which contains, among other things, multiple copies of ANSI Common Lisp by Paul Graham. It's a fun high school.
  - gustavo_duarte 19y ago
    Sounds like paradise. Where's it at (which state)? Also, is it private?
    - Jesin 19y ago
      Virginia, and no, it's a public high school. There's no tuition, although you do have to pass a test to get in.

by Jesin 19y ago

jrockway 19y ago

> Maybe it's just that many of the languages I've been learning have had little syntax and no operator precedence quirks This is a good point. It is probably not a good use of your time to learn Java and then C# (or similar), or Perl and then Python and Ruby. Sure, there are differences, but basically the languages in the same groups are the same. If you go for the more "academic" languages, you'll get more return on your learning investment. Recently, I've learned Lisp (this is what started me down the "wait, learning new languages isn't a waste of time!" path), Smalltalk, and OCaml, and I've picked up a lot of good ideas to port to my primary language. (Otherwise, my background before that was C, Perl, and Haskell. All good languages to know :)

gustavo_duarte 19y ago

By all means, play around with different languages when you're getting started. I think it's really important to be exposed to different languages as part of your education, be it undergrad or (for you as it was for me) junior/high school. But even in your situation, I'd say balance languages with other knowledge that is important. It's easy to play with languages because it's fun, but there's a lot of other important stuff to learn, some of which might make more practical difference to you. But by all means, learn and have fun. If you're getting a kick out of languages, have at it, especially if you've got plenty of time.

pg 19y ago
I think it's really important to be exposed to different languages as part of your education And is one's education supposed to stop?
- gustavo_duarte 19y ago
  No, it's supposed to evolve. And what makes sense when you're getting started may not be the best use of your time later on.
Jesin 19y ago
> If you're getting a kick out of languages, have at it, especially if you've got plenty of time. Plenty of time? No, not the school I go to. What I do have is the syslab, which is full of Linux boxen and a lot of smart people, especially during lunch. Attached to the syslab is a small library (formerly storage closet) of programming-related books, which contains, among other things, multiple copies of ANSI Common Lisp by Paul Graham. It's a fun high school.
- gustavo_duarte 19y ago
  Sounds like paradise. Where's it at (which state)? Also, is it private?
  - Jesin 19y ago
    Virginia, and no, it's a public high school. There's no tuition, although you do have to pass a test to get in.