blog: Overlooked Essentials for Optimizing Code

[so]

> No, I don't expect that and I do believe in the law of diminishing
> returns. But some languages are part of the basic skillset of every
> modern developer. E.g. one mainstream statically typed app/systems
> language (C/C++/D/C#/Java/Ada/Object Pascal/Scala), one scripting  
> language
> (Bash/Python/Ruby/Perl/PHP/Javascript/Lua/...), one "pure" language  
> (Lisp/
> Scheme/ML/Haskell/Prolog/...). Am I wrong, you only need to know how to
> program in C/C++/Java/D and make/microemacs/.bat scripts?

Of course, at least some degree of knowledge in these 3 areas is a big  
plus.

> 2) I find it hard to believe he is qualified to criticize university
> degrees world wide. For instance Bruno probably comes from Europe (which
> is not a homogenic single country). Second, the quality of degrees and
> courses varies -- without active participation it's impossible to give
> accurate, objective statements about the educational system. In every
> place I've worked in the senior workers always mention how the young
> generations don't learn any useful stuff these days (polluting chainsaws
> instead of axes etc.). This is universal, it also happens outside
> software engineering. The rants of old men and women.

You are giving too much value to universities/schools, just 3-5 years and  
they take much more than they give.
Graduating is not the end, it is a start.
Well... this is my experience. :)

> Some things can be extrapolated from the evolution so far:
>
> - compilers will catch more errors and produce faster code
> - in popular languages the abstraction become higher and higher
> - more languages will appear
> - in 10 or 20 or 30 years most systems are multicore
>
> Now, how can you know whether language X (e.g. Haskell) will be suitable
> in the future environment? How do you know which languages are worth
> studying if you don't get the basics of programming language theory? How
> can we expect one to *design* relevant new languages without these  
> skills?

I got no idea what is going to happen one year later in this retard (not  
you :P ) world really.
In this world you can hit jackpot with :

- a search engine.
- a web page you can post videos where you can get racist comments for  
anything you post.
- a web page you can post links, add names to your "friend" list.
- a web page you can post links/chat faster/cuter.

And people would think these are grand ideas.
A world, where using internet/coding make you nerd/antisocial but  
using/connecting these 4 make you social.

.... anyways!

A language should be there to solve problems i got right now, it might be  
obsolete the next day, who knows.

*cheers

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