I would go further than that and say that it's also important for programmer to know different paradigms. Knowing C, Java, and Python is surely better than just

I would go further than that and say that it's also important for programmer to know different paradigms. Knowing C, Java, and Python is surely better than just knowing Java, but they're still quite similar. Ideally people would also learn some functional programming, even if they don't use it, and a Lisp dialect (to appreciate the value of good metaprogramming facilities and get over parenthesis-phobia).