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> The better you know a language, the more tempting it is to take shortcuts. When you don't know a language well enough to write really gross things that work "
by aeternum 6y ago
> The better you know a language, the more tempting it is to take shortcuts. When you don't know a language well enough to write really gross things that work "for now", you have to think carefully about the simplest possible solution to a problem that you can express clearly in an unfamiliar language.
This has not been my experience. Much of the worst code I've run into was written by engineers that were new to a language or framework (including myself).
- shaicoleman 6y agoMoreover, what's idiomatic in one language isn't in others. Non-idiomatic code is one type of technical debt, and you can get that when translating code from one language to another.
- ianamartin 6y agoTo be clear, I am not suggesting that the resulting code will be good. But it tends to be more basic and not rely on weird tricks that deeper knowledge of the language will allow you to do. My larger point is that the first attempt to solve any problem in code is going to suck, so you might as well suck in a different language that won't ever have a chance of being deployed into prod. You learn some things, you get some exp with a new language, and a better frame of mind for solving the problem in a better way.
- danjac 6y agoThat's because developers see early-stage startups in the same way musicians see dingy pubs: a badly-paid and generally unpleasant venue to learn your craft and make all your beginner mistakes with minimum responsibility and damage to reputation. You don't want to be playing in dingy pubs all your career, though.