Well, the rating of books by number of pages can actually work quite well in Samuel Clemens' sense of it - I wrote you this long letter because I had no time to write a shorter one. Pretty much the same with code - each new line of code is a liability, not an asset. That would be indeed something good to teach right from the start though I'm not holding my breath for it to happen.
Re languages, there are some that are the "anti-tool" - instead of supporting your thinking, they burden you with more and more. Whether that's bad or good might depend of course on your measures and ultimately on your ethics, sure. But speaking of things to teach, I'd say it's very useful to get to know the difference between "it feels fast" and "it is fast". Not as easy as it sounds though, granted.
Head of Product at Temporal. Previously lead architect and low-level systems programmer for scale out SaaS offering. Game engine developer, ML engineering expert. DMs open on Twitter.
Well, the rating of books by number of pages can actually work quite well in Samuel Clemens' sense of it - I wrote you this long letter because I had no time to write a shorter one. Pretty much the same with code - each new line of code is a liability, not an asset. That would be indeed something good to teach right from the start though I'm not holding my breath for it to happen.
That's a good point but I think even between languages it may not be true. I think that unless 'lines of code' is specifically relevant to the context of the discussion, it should be avoided.
Re languages, there are some that are the "anti-tool" - instead of supporting your thinking, they burden you with more and more. Whether that's bad or good might depend of course on your measures and ultimately on your ethics, sure. But speaking of things to teach, I'd say it's very useful to get to know the difference between "it feels fast" and "it is fast". Not as easy as it sounds though, granted.
I think popularity filters these out for the most part. Obviously there are obscure unusable languages (like brainfuck), but those aren't going to be a common part of your day.
I'd say it's very useful to get to know the difference between "it feels fast" and "it is fast".
I would consider myself a "low level expert" and I'm not even sure how you could generically learn such a thing.
Thanks for contributing so many new ideas to the discussion. Glad you liked the post!
Re "popularity filters these out for the most part" - how do you figure this?
I'm genuinely curious about this because in my experience popularity is more of a counter-indicator really (as a well-known example think qwerty vs dvorak keyboards, to take this on more neutral ground). And if anything, I'd add to the list for teaching precisely this: stay away from today's popular unless you really are more into fashion than into building up a lifelong career.
Diana,
Your comments are very wise.
However, considering popularity to be a counter-indicator to the ability of the language to support your thinking process is, in my opinion, an extreme view. That doesn't mean you can't find exceptions.
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Well, the rating of books by number of pages can actually work quite well in Samuel Clemens' sense of it - I wrote you this long letter because I had no time to write a shorter one. Pretty much the same with code - each new line of code is a liability, not an asset. That would be indeed something good to teach right from the start though I'm not holding my breath for it to happen.
Re languages, there are some that are the "anti-tool" - instead of supporting your thinking, they burden you with more and more. Whether that's bad or good might depend of course on your measures and ultimately on your ethics, sure. But speaking of things to teach, I'd say it's very useful to get to know the difference between "it feels fast" and "it is fast". Not as easy as it sounds though, granted.
That's a good point but I think even between languages it may not be true. I think that unless 'lines of code' is specifically relevant to the context of the discussion, it should be avoided.
I think popularity filters these out for the most part. Obviously there are obscure unusable languages (like brainfuck), but those aren't going to be a common part of your day.
I would consider myself a "low level expert" and I'm not even sure how you could generically learn such a thing.
Thanks for contributing so many new ideas to the discussion. Glad you liked the post!
(Hm, how do I cite a part of your comment? )
Re "popularity filters these out for the most part" - how do you figure this?
I'm genuinely curious about this because in my experience popularity is more of a counter-indicator really (as a well-known example think qwerty vs dvorak keyboards, to take this on more neutral ground). And if anything, I'd add to the list for teaching precisely this: stay away from today's popular unless you really are more into fashion than into building up a lifelong career.
:thumb:
"popularity filters these out for the most part" doesn't really explain JavaScript.
But I guess that's the "for the most part"... part ;)
Diana,
Your comments are very wise.
However, considering popularity to be a counter-indicator to the ability of the language to support your thinking process is, in my opinion, an extreme view. That doesn't mean you can't find exceptions.