Language Envy

harry — Fri, 06 May 2005 05:55:03 +0000

I seem to be suffering from language envy. I have been delving into C (again) for a couple of weeks now to speed up a text indexer and I have really enjoyed it.
I am sick of Perl. Not because I don’t like it it’s just that I am no longer doing anything interesting with it, perhaps this is the problem and not Perl i.e. I have no more interesting things to do that Perl is suited for.
Most of the things I need to do now require more grunt than Perl has got (I am not including XS) This is partly due to everything I need to do I has already been done at some point before or CPAN has a module that does just that and cobbling modules together gets a bit tiresome after a while. I would love to be working on a large Perl project at work but unfortunately that is not the sort of stuff we do.
Some people may regard this entry as a dig at Perl but I would disagree. Perl is brilliant once you get to know it. It allows me to do pretty much anything I want in short order. This does not mean I am not allowed to peer over the fence into the other camps and look on with envy. Perhaps the grass is greener on the other side but I need a change, if nothing else I would come back to Perl with renewed vengeance.
The following languages are all in the possible camp.
C:
Its just lovely. Anyone who has read K&R will know what I mean. Its such a small language and limited only by the programmers abilities. To quote Kim H “C is assembler on steroids”. I can remember being told that in life you can only have two of the following three items in any one item:

cheap
fast
reliable

I think as far as programming languages go C comes closest to all three than any other language. I have delved into C several times and each time I have enjoyed it.
Python:
Everyone seems to be using Python these days and singing its praises. I have actually never written anything in it which I suppose is a good enough reason to take a shot at it. It also gets a good mention in Eric Raymods How To Become A Hacker
C++:
I like C++ because like C its also on steroids but also comes with an added dose of amphetamines, this and some features I dearly love. I like OO programming. I find it intuitive and I like to use Class diagrams to model applications. I am aware the C++ is not for the faint of heart but I have had reasonable success with it when I have used it. It also has the STL which is just a god send, nothing quite like a hashmap (You can see the Perl in me now).
Ruby:
Again like Python I have never had anything to do with Ruby but it gets lots of good reviews from people I trust. It also has the distinct advantage that if you type “best programming language” into Google its comes first ;). I also love smalltalk and I have heard that Ruby is the Bastard child of Perl and Smalltalk.
Java:
I have my reservations about Java but on the occasions I have used it I found the docs to be reasonable. The problem I found with it was that I felt I was working with C++ but with a slower crippled version. The only reason I can think of for using it would be if you really wanted cross platform interoperability (can be done in all of the above) and if you wanted a better paying job because the job market seems to favour Java coders.
As you will probably see from the above I have left out a fair whack of possible languages I could learn. All in all I seem to keep leaning towards C/C++ so this is probably where I am going to go for a while although like most things I won’t just learn it for the sake of it. I always need to be doing something constructive in anything I am learning otherwise I find it laborious and boring.
PS (I would dearly love to learn a little Python to see if it is as fast a RAD language as Perl).

Language Envy – Harry Jackson

Language Envy