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To be fair, learning a new language is a joke. It doesn't require a substantial investment of time. You're most likely going to be gluing API calls together an

To be fair, learning a new language is a joke. It doesn't require a substantial investment of time. You're most likely going to be gluing API calls together and that's where you'll spend 80% of your time: Learning APIs. Even then this is more likely looking things up in documentation or googling for answers on StackOverflow. Whether you glue them with Python, Ruby, Objective-C, Java, Swift, etc. it really doesn't matter. If a new programming language is your only gripe then you have a way bigger problem on your hands when it comes to writing applications :)

cabalamat 12y ago
> To be fair, learning a new language is a joke. It doesn't require a substantial investment of time. I suspect Peter Norvig would disagree with you there -- http://norvig.com/21-days.html http://norvig.com/21-days.html > You're most likely going to be gluing API calls together and that's where you'll spend 80% of your time For certain problems this is the case, and you can get away with writing Python/Ruby/etc in Swift syntax. For other problems it isn't the case. Choice of language does matter; if it didn't, would Apple have invented Swift in the first place?
- nknighthb 12y ago
  Learning to program is not the same as learning a new language. Norvig is talking about something utterly different that has no relevance here. It's even hinted at in his own words -- "Learn at least a half dozen programming languages.".
  - cabalamat 12y ago
    > Learning to program is not the same as learning a new language. Norvig is talking about something utterly different that has no relevance here. At least in parts of his essay, Norvig is talking about learning a new language when one already knows how to program. For example, where he says: In 3 days you might be able to learn some of the syntax of C++ (if you already know another language), but you couldn't learn much about how to use the language. In short, if you were, say, a Basic programmer, you could learn to write programs in the style of Basic using C++ syntax, but you couldn't learn what C++ is actually good (and bad) for.
sanityinc 12y ago
> To be fair, learning a new language is a joke. It doesn't require a substantial investment of time. I think that rather depends on the language and your past experience. Most programmers with experience in mainstream languages will indeed require a substantial investment of time to learn a radically different language like Haskell.
- valarauca1 12y ago
  >radically different But swift isn't radically different paradigm shift like switching to a purely functional language like Haskell from a life spent writting c++. I think your confusing learning functional programming with learning a "functional programming language." The "functional" part takes longer then the "programming lanague" part.
  - sanityinc 12y ago
    I didn't say anything about Swift: rather, I was responding to the parent's overly general assertion.

cabalamat 12y ago

> To be fair, learning a new language is a joke. It doesn't require a substantial investment of time. I suspect Peter Norvig would disagree with you there -- http://norvig.com/21-days.html http://norvig.com/21-days.html > You're most likely going to be gluing API calls together and that's where you'll spend 80% of your time For certain problems this is the case, and you can get away with writing Python/Ruby/etc in Swift syntax. For other problems it isn't the case. Choice of language does matter; if it didn't, would Apple have invented Swift in the first place?

nknighthb 12y ago
Learning to program is not the same as learning a new language. Norvig is talking about something utterly different that has no relevance here. It's even hinted at in his own words -- "Learn at least a half dozen programming languages.".
- cabalamat 12y ago
  > Learning to program is not the same as learning a new language. Norvig is talking about something utterly different that has no relevance here. At least in parts of his essay, Norvig is talking about learning a new language when one already knows how to program. For example, where he says: In 3 days you might be able to learn some of the syntax of C++ (if you already know another language), but you couldn't learn much about how to use the language. In short, if you were, say, a Basic programmer, you could learn to write programs in the style of Basic using C++ syntax, but you couldn't learn what C++ is actually good (and bad) for.

sanityinc 12y ago

> To be fair, learning a new language is a joke. It doesn't require a substantial investment of time. I think that rather depends on the language and your past experience. Most programmers with experience in mainstream languages will indeed require a substantial investment of time to learn a radically different language like Haskell.

valarauca1 12y ago
>radically different But swift isn't radically different paradigm shift like switching to a purely functional language like Haskell from a life spent writting c++. I think your confusing learning functional programming with learning a "functional programming language." The "functional" part takes longer then the "programming lanague" part.
- sanityinc 12y ago
  I didn't say anything about Swift: rather, I was responding to the parent's overly general assertion.