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macOS Curious on everyones programming preference...
- Thread starter NexesDev
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Sorry for a reply to an old comment, but I enjoyed this.
Once we had Fortran why did we even bother developing other high level languages?
In fact, why did we need a high level language at all, all ASM has jumps. That's enough for looping. Stupid programmers, coming up with all of these fancy-pants ways to print "Hello, World!" to the console.
-Lee
NT1440: Tons of people make a great living in and around software. You'll find your niche, and as Lee states, once you start coding, you'll know pretty quick if you have the knack for it or not. There are lots of platforms and a lot more different ways to code on them.
Todd
Todd
I remember learning STL freshman year and thinking, "This is terrible! This is going to make it really easy for anyone to program! How am I supposed to find a job after everyone learns this?" Boy was I wrong. STL it seems is just as hard of a topic to grasp as programming itself, which is to say if you are good at programming and like it, not hard at all 
But wow did kids struggle in that class. And now, for the most part, everyone who programs in C++ knows about STL and I'm still doing OK.
But wow did kids struggle in that class. And now, for the most part, everyone who programs in C++ knows about STL and I'm still doing OK.If that works well for you that's great, but I'm not sure if I agree with that statement as it generally applies to being a software developer or any other profession. After I spend all day looking at code at my job I like to go home and do something different, spend time outside with my dog, tinker my classic car or anything else that keeps me away from a keyboard. That's not to say that there aren't times when I get focused on a project and really go at for days or weeks at a time but that is exception rather than the norm.
Work: C#/.NET
Home: Objective-C/Cocoa
Scripting: Ruby
I don't really care for C#/.NET anymore. Too much effort has gone into making C# act like a dynamic language, which it isn't. That and the .NET class library has become almost schizophrenic with age. Leave it to Microsoft to turn a clean, cohesive design into a steaming pile of poo.
As for Objective-C/Cocoa, my first thoughts were, "WTF?" The disconnect between Xcode and Interface Builder felt strange, the messaging syntax seemed contrived, and the API looked verbose to the point of tedium. But now that things have clicked, I simply love it.
Last on the list is Ruby. I've found Ruby to be a great little language for getting mundane tasks done quickly. No fuss. Just fun. And for those allergic to Objective-C, MacRuby looks like it'll soon be a great alternative for developing full-featured Cocoa applications.
Home: Objective-C/Cocoa
Scripting: Ruby
I don't really care for C#/.NET anymore. Too much effort has gone into making C# act like a dynamic language, which it isn't. That and the .NET class library has become almost schizophrenic with age. Leave it to Microsoft to turn a clean, cohesive design into a steaming pile of poo.
As for Objective-C/Cocoa, my first thoughts were, "WTF?" The disconnect between Xcode and Interface Builder felt strange, the messaging syntax seemed contrived, and the API looked verbose to the point of tedium. But now that things have clicked, I simply love it.
Last on the list is Ruby. I've found Ruby to be a great little language for getting mundane tasks done quickly. No fuss. Just fun. And for those allergic to Objective-C, MacRuby looks like it'll soon be a great alternative for developing full-featured Cocoa applications.
maybe that was phrased quite right.
If you did not write code at work, would it be something you enjoyed doing in your free time? I guess the point I was trying to make was that if you would only consider programming because you were being paid it's unlikely to be very rewarding.
-Lee
If I can write it in Perl I will. I use Perl for 95% of my work, both personal and job wise. Windows I will use C++, Mac I will use Objective-C/Perl. Web I use Perl and maybe a little PHP if I'm prototyping.
Ruby = Garbage. Python is good but I haven't spent the time to master it so I always fall back to Perl. I will admit, I've been using Objective-C for about two weeks now and I'm in love with it.
I use Perl for 95% of my work, both personal and job wise. Windows I will use C++, Mac I will use Objective-C/Perl. Web I use Perl and maybe a little PHP if I'm prototyping. Ruby = Garbage.
Python is good but I haven't spent the time to master it so I always fall back to Perl. I will admit, I've been using Objective-C for about two weeks now and I'm in love with it. He was comparing PHP to Ruby (btw can you give an example of what PHP can do that ruby can't?) which are both more or less in the same level, why did you hurt me?
Whatever the customer is paying for!!
Professionally, I have programmed in: FORTRAN, COBOL, C, C++, Visual Basic, 6502 assembly, 8086 assembly, 6800 assemly, 68000 assembly, Perl, PHP, Visual C, C#, Pascal, PL1, APL, SQL, Python and Java.
Once you learn and gain expertise in one type of language, learning other languages of similar type takes much less time and effort. Once you've learned C++, learning Java, C#, and Obj-C is easy. Likewise for Perl/Python/Ruby, if you know one, you can pick up the others with minimal effort.
Besides, as a professional software engineer, I can say that the amount of time you spend writing and debugging individual pieces of code is dwarved by the amount of time you spend designing, documenting, and navigating non-technical issues like politics and the irrational demands of management.
Besides, as a professional software engineer, I can say that the amount of time you spend writing and debugging individual pieces of code is dwarved by the amount of time you spend designing, documenting, and navigating non-technical issues like politics and the irrational demands of management.
Never were words spoken so true, although our situation is a bit different... WE are the coders and WE are the management.
A partner and I decided to try to write and sell an app. While the learning curve was high it was all going well... until we had to do all the "behind the scenes" things, THEN, actually started SELLING it.
Doing both the development and the management in one brain is rough. The good news for me is that my coding skills are lousy, and my partner takes the brunt of that. I try now, after the GUI was designed, to concentrate on tech support, testing and "the books".
I have experience with a handful of languages, more namely BASIC, C, and Objective C. I also have plenty of general knowledge on programming. In addition I have seen other languages and understand a little bit of how they work. And out of all of it, I have developed an almost worshiping respect for Cocoa with Obj-C. The way it's structured and works, how it's built on C, I haven't found one thing about it I don't like yet. It's beautiful. So yeah... Obj-C for me.