My choice of primary language has depended on what best fit my job at that time. 'Primary' never meant exclusive -- SQL and perl and bash have always been in the mix; languages like Stata and Mathematica and Postscript haved floated in and out too.
But when I 'think code', not unsurprisingly my current 'primary language' is usually the hammer I instinctively grab first.
The past few years I've been perl-primary.
Not perl-only or perl-stale -- I've had the opportunity to wrap my head around new technologies inside of and outside of perl -- but clearly perl-primary.
I like perl's pragmatism and speed. I like perl's can-do attitude. I like cpan. I use perl for my job. I use perl for my own projects.
I like perl.
Beyond perl, I've spent some time messing with scheme (sicp) and liking it. Not for work, just to expand my horizons in computer science. For me at least, Scheme is sufficiently different from Perl that the two don't collide in my head -- perhaps like learning Japanese and Russian. In contrast, maybe Spanish and Portugese would be too close.
Now I'm getting intrigued with Ruby and Ruby on Rails.
Just getting intrigued with the ruby idea -- I haven't downloaded it yet. I did watch the movie.
I'm not looking for folks here to jump in to praise perl web frameworks like Maypole (didn't like it) or mason (love it). (Update: hadn't seen Catalyst, now looking into it.) I'm not looking for the 'monks to run the 'perl-is-best-for-everything' flag up the flagpole.
Knowing multiple computer languages is a good thing. I like this old essay by peter norvig. Despite an amusing observation by charles miller about the risk of turning into a "whiner ... for whom the best language for any job always seems to be the one you don’t get to program in often enough to see its flaws close up."
My meditation / question here has to do with keeping two languages in my head at the same time.
Being a bear of little brain, I suspect if I start playing with ruby and like it, my 'finger-memory' of perl syntax will start to slip (like mixing Spanish and Portguese idioms, I suppose).
That's really my concern about getting into Ruby -- the semantic clashes with perl syntax, as well as possible addiction.
Anyone here have comments on keeping up their perl (have to keep my day job, after all) while pushing new syntax into their fingers and brains?
Anyone here have comments on Ruby?
Disclaimer: my brain is over 30 years old, which I think is relevant here.
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