Christopher M. Hobbs
I'm not sure why I never ran with Python. It seems like the logical progression on gnu/linux systems from the days of Perl. Somehow I fell into Ruby for general purpose programming. Part of me feels like I should shore up my Python and C knowledge for my daily driving but I need to hone my golang and JavaScript chops for work. Trying to shoehorn lisp into everything and being enticed by things like elixir is making those decisions even harder. I worry about becoming irrelevant as a programmer by not keeping up with the flavor of the week and I worry about not being able to maintain my systems by not getting more comfortable with the staples.
May 1, 2017 at 2:17pmWeb
Show threadndsMay 1, 2017
I learned python because esr told me to: http://www.catb.org/esr/faqs/hacker-howto.html#skills1
Show threadDave MorrissMay 1, 2017
@nds @hobbsc Having got a degree in Music last year my son wants to move to Computer Science (or similar). I sent him that very useful link
Show threadChristopher M. HobbsMay 1, 2017
@nds I know python pretty well but I can't always dredge it out of memory quickly enough.
Show threadndsMay 1, 2017
@hobbsc python feels like home for me. My default. Plus with unicode in v 3 there's no better for text processing and nlp stuff which typically interests me
Show threadkatMay 1, 2017
@hobbsc I'm not a programmer, but i learnt basic at school, Fortran at university, C whilst unemployed, and tiny bits of Java later...
Show threadkatMay 1, 2017
@hobbsc … but when I need to do stuff these days I pick up python and bash…because they suit my job…
Show threadkatMay 1, 2017
@hobbsc but I think I would like to make time for JavaScript because of nodjs, and Haskell because of homotopy type theory univalence
Show threadChristopher M. HobbsMay 1, 2017
@kat I hate all things js but it is unfortunately necessary to my work.
Show threadkatMay 1, 2017
@hobbsc why the js hate?
Show threadChristopher M. HobbsMay 1, 2017
@kat i don't have enough space in this notice box.  mostly it's due to the fact that it silently fails often, behaves in ways one does not expect unless you've used it forever, and is often poorly written.
Show threadChristopher M. HobbsMay 1, 2017
@kat this seems to be the common mentality.
Show threadChristopher M. HobbsMay 1, 2017
@kat and it's what I was alluding to.
Show threadkatMay 1, 2017
@hobbsc have you been doing anything functional ?
Show threadChristopher M. HobbsMay 1, 2017
@kat i am barely functional most days but i have been known to use common lisp, clojure, and a little elixir.
Show threadJoseph McCormickMay 1, 2017

@hobbsc Been cooking up code with Python for a week or so now and it's pretty nice.

Your python learning curve would be like 1-2 days maximum. It's really Ruby-esque, except the performance side is good.

Show threadChristopher M. HobbsMay 2, 2017
@esmevane I knee python 2 pretty well. Used it quite a lot through the years. Just haven't touched python 3.
Show threadjezraMay 2, 2017
Take the plunge!
Show threadChristopher M. HobbsMay 2, 2017
@jezra I like your attitude!
Show threadChristopher M. HobbsMay 2, 2017
@esmevane I agonize over which languages occupy registers in my brain all the time. I hate jumping into a project and then having to reference a million basic things or fix a ton of my syntax errors.
Show threadJoseph McCormickMay 1, 2017

@hobbsc Also, FOTW is in your grasp. Elixir and Rust are just advanced syntaxes on top of old, proven tools.

I think "on the shoulders of giants" toolchains are a good thing.

p.s. I mean we could always pair

Show threadChristopher M. HobbsMay 2, 2017
@esmevane I've been looking at elixir quite a lot. Just still wobbly with it, though.
Show threadChristopher M. HobbsMay 2, 2017
@esmevane I've been looking at elixir quite a lot. Just still wobbly with it, though.
Show threadChristopher M. HobbsMay 2, 2017
@esmevane I've been looking at elixir quite a lot. Just still wobbly with it, though.
Show threadtuttle_(defunct)May 2, 2017
Becoming irrelevant as a programmer, or anything else in the IT world, is kind of inevitable. Experience doesn't count jack shit either, except this time round when you're dealing with the latest iteration of whatever, you can say to yourself, "jeez, not again, I've learnt this n times already!"
Show threadChristopher M. HobbsMay 2, 2017
@tuttle i tend to agree.  the bigger issue here is that i don't want to do c-level again.  i want to keep programming.  i don't want to herd cats (even if i'm good at it).