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Ask HN: How many programming languages/development frameworks are you currently using?

• TallGuyShort 18y ago
  I have to switch languages a lot too, but I've found that I don't have a problem as long as I use each language regularly. It's when I haven't used a certain language for a few weeks / months that I confuse it with other languages. edit: For the record, I frequently switch between Flex, Java, PHP/SQL, C, Lisp / Clojure, and a couple of other scripting/markup languages.
• spooneybarger 18y ago
  For work, ignoring side fun things: Perl, Smalltalk, Ruby, SQL, bash, make, xhtml, css, Seaside Dips into python and C from time to time
• ii 18y ago
  I had this problem (putting or forgetting semicolons) for a while, but it looks to be gone with experience. I constantly switch from Python to Javascript to C to Ruby.
• yan 18y ago
  The more you code in each language, the less severe a problem is. I find that as soon as you lay down a few lines of code in a certain language, your mind switches context to that language and the habits you picked up in that language come back fairly soon. Once you get in the swing of things, it should be straightforward.
• chops 18y ago
  Right now I regularly use PHP, perl, and lua. I've been learning Common Lisp and Python for a while, though because my company uses those languages above, and because I haven't started any new projects yet for new languages, and because PHP has been my primary language for 5 years now, I think in PHP. I have to broaden my horizons. I've got some fun ideas for projects to tinker with that would use some other languages (recently bought books on Erlang, Haskell, Clojure, and Ruby). And though they likely wouldn't generate much if any revenue, it's worth doing something practical just to learn some new languages. Back when I used to do PHP on my own, and VP ASP for my employer, I was regularly messing up if and loop syntaxes, and <? and <%, and either forgetting or adding semicolons.
• icey 18y ago
  During the day I use C#, VB.Net, Javascript and Python (also T-SQL, not sure if that really counts for your question though). At night, I was working on some Smalltalk and Clojure; but a friend of mine has recently convinced me to give Groovy / Grails a go.
• abstractbill 18y ago
  At justin.tv I program pretty much every day in Python, Javascript, and haXe. Occasionally I do Ruby too. It does get confusing sometimes - it still takes me a couple of seconds to mentally switch gears between the different languages.
• inerte 18y ago
  Side: Python, Django, web.py, sqlalchemy, D, Javascript/jQuery, Erlang, Postgresql, Mysql, Sqlite, CouchDB, Mercurial, Git Work: Perl, Bash, Python, PHP, Javascript/jQuery/in house stuff, ASP, Java/Jboss/Fast/JSP, ColdFusion, Soap, XML/XSL, Sql Server, Oracle, Mysql, Subversion Huge lists on both sides, but there's a main difference: If something is broken over work, I have to fix. I don't exactly know Java or ColdFusion that much, but if the Java guy is away and something needs to be done, I know enough to poke around and consult Google. On the Side: I don't exactly know all of D, Erlang and CouchDB, but I have fun coding small things on each language from time to time, doing stuff on Project Euler. I wouldn't accept a paying job which required Erlang, for example, but I made simple a distributed crawler just to see what the platform is capable of. I think I know enough of each to at least understand its strengths and weakness on a higher-level, to know when it could be used as a solution. When I want to do something more serious, I choose Python. Anyway, to trim the lists a little, I would say Python on Side, and PHP on Work. These languages get 75% of my time.
• rufius 18y ago
  Too many :-|. Ruby, Java, C, Python, Scala, Javascript and when I can't avoid it, C++. If I get the chance then some Haskell, Clojure, or Common Lisp.
• squidbot 18y ago
  A ridiculous amount. 12 in fact. I wrote a wiki entry over at stack overflow about this (http://stackoverflow.com/questions/510261/how-do-you-keep-all-your-languages-straight http://stackoverflow.com/questions/510261/how-do-you-keep-al...) I agree, it sometimes seems too much and I wish for some standardization.
• mahmud 18y ago
  I am a mono-linguist: Common Lisp for everything, from the hand-optimized webserver (hunchentoot), to the parser scripts that feed the database, to the data-entry software that lets my affiliates/contractors feed the database, and the daemon that runs routinely analyzing the database tables and building in-memory caches of frequently used objects and doing scheduling for the queue, and the other daemon that does backup and reporting. Even the twilio voice menu for the phone is generated by a CL-WHO app :-P Sometimes I go for so long not touching anything but Lisp, I end up writing weird stuff like "defstruct foo { int bar, char name};" whenever I need to wrap a C library to call out to :-P [If any Lispers are reading this: I have this weird problem where I have a slime session running on screen for weeks, during which I write something in a temporary file, or inside another file, evaluate and edit it until it works .. but I forget it there! over time, the running application has little resemblance to the textual representations I have spread over several files, and it gets worse when I delete entire useless regions and refactor them. At least other languages have the decency to bondage-and-discipline me into naming my files and organizing the project hierarchy :-]
  • Zak 18y ago
    One thing that could help is to put everything like that in one place - say, a file called scratch.lisp in the root of the source tree. While it's not an ideal place to store any code long-term, it lets you know what still needs to be filed.
    • mahmud 18y ago
      I have a misc.lisp file that I religiously copy stuff to. But usually, things go to misc first but later migrate to component level "package-misc" type locations, usually at the top of the component's file (I add stuff to the bottom and prefer to have a screenful of my working code, with less relevant code a PgUp or two away -- so stuff at the top is defpackage, in-package, defvars, conditional compilation stuff then the misc tools.)
  • kriyative 18y ago
    This may seem really "out there", but I keep all the code of a package in one file. Not only does this reduce or eliminate asdf/defsystem maintenance, which I loathe doing, it also helps avoid the kind of habit you described. After all, the edits are all in one place. To borrow a quote from the movie Highlander - "There can be only one (file)!"
• Zak 18y ago
  Personal stuff tends to be in Clojure or Haskell lately. One project is currently using a little bit of Python to tie some things together, but that will probably go away. There's also some occasional Lua. Various paid projects over the past year have used Ruby, Common Lisp, Javascript and PHP. Emacs Lisp sees use for both on occasion, for a total of 9.
• keefe 18y ago
  In my project I use Java for the server with a jQuery front end and at work it's Java on the server again with an AS3 front end, so 3 serious languages unless you count RDF, OWL, Jena Rules, SWRL rules in which case it's more like 7, if you want to push the envelope and add XML 8, so taking those not-really-languages appropriately, I'd say about 5.5 (:
• apgwoz 18y ago
  Perl, Python, PHP, JavaScript Movable Type, with Perl. Some Django, and non-Django stuff with Python. Hacking on Active Collab, written in PHP. Rely heavily on jQuery for JavaScript these days. Chicken Scheme for some random exploration now and again. I've become pretty good at context switching between them all. I make mistakes sure, but I don't spend more than 5 seconds writing JavaScript in a .py file.
• thorax 18y ago
  Today and yesterday: PHP/CI, Flex, Javascript, Python/Django, C++, C#/XAML, bash scripting. Fun!
• kriyative 18y ago
  Common Lisp, Erlang, Javascript, and ... Objective C. I am slowly adding Clojure to this mix. The most dissonant cognitive shift is going from Lisp to Objective C.
• joeyo 18y ago
  When I write them down I'm surprised at how few I actually use on a daily basis. It boils down to (in order of decreasing frequency): 1. Matlab 2. C++ 3. C
  • dxjones 18y ago
    Matlab? What is a HackerNews reader doing with Matlab? (I ask because I also use Matlab all the time, but I am curious what others are using it for.)
    • joeyo 18y ago
      I use it to analyze neural signal data. Every now and again I fantasize about giving python and matplotlib a try, but there is too much inertia to overcome.
      • dxjones 18y ago
        Is there a YC/HN startup analyzing neural data? Or rather, when will there be a YC/HN startup analyzing neural data?
• damovisa 18y ago
  C#, VB6 (maintenance), and PHP. My big stumbling block is foreach loops: foreach (int i in myInts) { ... } For Each i As Integer In myInts ... Next foreach ($myInts as $i) { ... }
• TJensen 18y ago
  Java and ActionScript 3 (Flex) at work. Right now, Objective C, Python and JavaScript (jQuery) at home. Yes, I do occasionally run into idiomatic problems as I switch languages, but it is better than coming home and doing Java. :)
• marram 18y ago
  At Sponty: Python + Google App Engine + prototype.js at consulting gig: Flex, Java, PHP and some Django.
• wlievens 18y ago
  C++ at the day job, Java for hobby projects, and sometimes PHP for freelance projects.
• jefurii 18y ago
  Work: Python, PHP, Javascript, CSS, HTML, SQL; Django, Drupal, jQuery, CleverCSS Play: LISP, SuperCollider, Max/MSP, Processing