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Discussion on: Do you consider yourself fluent in your favorite programming language?

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Orian de Wit • Edited

"hello world" is literally the dev equivalent of learning こんにちは in Japanese.

Beyond that, in most languages you could create a "To Do" app. It doesn't matter if it's a CLI interface in Rust or a webpage using React — the To Do app is like being able to pull off a polite conversation at a convenience store about the weather.

Fluency includes being able to explain flu symptoms to the doctor or how you want your new garden shack to be built to a contractor. It's a notch above the To Do. You might still not understand all the colloquialisms of the language, but you understand all the syntax the language has to offer.

When fluent, you feel confident you can write custom apps on request — if I'd ask you "could you write me a program which parses a CSV file into a database" or even "Please write a snake game for me" it should trigger parts of your brain which design the outlines of the program. You are absolutely allowed to use the docs for reference incidentally, but the majority of the time code should be flowing from your fingers by pure reasoning alone.