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It's not about idioms themselves. It's about the thought processes behind those idioms. The difference between learning language idioms and learning the thought

It's not about idioms themselves. It's about the thought processes behind those idioms. The difference between learning language idioms and learning the thought processes behind them is like the difference between learning how to solve math problems that appear frequently in exams and learning math. I'm not arguing that you can't be a decent programmer without "mastering language idioms", but there are good reasons why different languages exist. If you just pick up a language without understanding the problem it solves, you're just adding a tool to your toolbox without knowing how to use it effectively, when to reach for it and how to accomplish what it does when you don't have it.

cynicalkane 14y ago
This is true for what pg calls Blub programmers who get stuck in idiomatic ruts, but there's so much idea-sharing among the current popular high level languages that I think once you master a certain number you can pick up new ones fairly easily. The current ecosystem is one in which the really important idioms--fundamentals of good software--translate well from language to language. Exceptions might exist for things like APL, and to a lesser extent "extremist" languages like Haskell, Lisp, Forth, which require paradigm shifts to think about effectively.
- CodeMage 14y ago
  Almost everyone starts as a Blub programmer -- "Blub" was BASIC when I was a kid and that's what I learned first -- but that's beside the point. You're right in that the more languages you learn, the easier it gets to pick up new ones, but that only happens if you make an effort to master them, so you can learn the thought processes behind them. Of course, after a while you'll hit the point of diminishing returns, where most new languages you learn won't have a boatload of new, eye-opening, paradigm-shifting concepts for you to discover and learn. However, there are two things to keep in mind: 1) You never know when a new language will teach you something important unless you try your best to learn it properly. 2) If you think you're going to spend a lot of time working with the language X or if you're going to dive into a huge codebase written in that language, then by all means try to master it. The better you are in that language, the less code you'll write in it and the less code there is to maintain, the better.

cynicalkane 14y ago

This is true for what pg calls Blub programmers who get stuck in idiomatic ruts, but there's so much idea-sharing among the current popular high level languages that I think once you master a certain number you can pick up new ones fairly easily. The current ecosystem is one in which the really important idioms--fundamentals of good software--translate well from language to language. Exceptions might exist for things like APL, and to a lesser extent "extremist" languages like Haskell, Lisp, Forth, which require paradigm shifts to think about effectively.

CodeMage 14y ago
Almost everyone starts as a Blub programmer -- "Blub" was BASIC when I was a kid and that's what I learned first -- but that's beside the point. You're right in that the more languages you learn, the easier it gets to pick up new ones, but that only happens if you make an effort to master them, so you can learn the thought processes behind them. Of course, after a while you'll hit the point of diminishing returns, where most new languages you learn won't have a boatload of new, eye-opening, paradigm-shifting concepts for you to discover and learn. However, there are two things to keep in mind: 1) You never know when a new language will teach you something important unless you try your best to learn it properly. 2) If you think you're going to spend a lot of time working with the language X or if you're going to dive into a huge codebase written in that language, then by all means try to master it. The better you are in that language, the less code you'll write in it and the less code there is to maintain, the better.