Programming Languages

[Princess]

I know this forum is full of nerds, and I bet there are a lot of programmers here :)

Just to take a general survey of the programmers here:

- How did you get interested in programming?
- What languages do you know?
- What is your preferred or dominant language?



Since I like to answer my own posts, I'll go first:

How did you get interested in programming?
I got my start in programming in '97, back when VB5 was the next greatest thing. At the time, my dad was getting his degree in computer science; he showed me one of his homework assignments, a little dice rolling program in VB (click the dice, and it shows a number), and I thought to myself how cool it was that my dad actually made this program.

After that, I'd sit and watch my dad do his homework assignments for hours, and I actually started to learn some code just by watching. When my dad went to school, I took his VB book and went through every example page by page.

The first program I ever made was a 'naughty words' program. You click a button, and it spelled out swear words on screen. And before anyone asks: yes, learning VB scrambled my brains for years.

What languages do you know?
After I learned VB, I took a few programming classes and picked up C++ and Java. To this day, I still hate explicit pointers.

Of course, after I discovered the internets, I wanted to make websites, so I learned HTML. Naturally, after I mastered HTML, I wanted to make sites with dynamic content, so I used a server-side language similar to VB called classic ASP. I picked up SQL in the process. I learned a little bit of PHP, but at the time the language was about as crappy as classic ASP, so I kept with ASP for the next 5 years of my web dev career.

One day, I noticed that everywhere I looked, people were talking about this new weird language called ASP.Net. I knew that classic ASP was a dying language, so I abandoned it in favor of ASP.Net using VB.Net. VB.Net was quite a bit different from VB5 and 6; for a start, it had inheritance and a very well-developed class library (the .Net framework). I fell in love with the language and started using it everyday.

I got my first programming job at a company that uses primarily Delphi, an awkward language that resembles the bastard love child of C++ and VB, combining the most irritating features of both languages. I absolutely abhor Delphi and the Codegear Delphi IDE after having used it. Fortunately, my company does quite a bit of .Net work, primarily C#. With my background in .Net, I picked up C# very quickly; after the first month of using the language, I become a convert to the church of the curly brace. C# is just easier to read, easier to write, and has fewer gotchas.

After I started programming professionally, I got really serious about writing code. I wanted to start learning more powerful languages, so I picked up Python -- and I'll say, after having used it, Python is easily the most enjoyable language I've ever used, it really is "fun" to program.

While my Python programs are always shorter than equivalent C# and Delphi, they just didn't feel right because they lacked compile-time type safety. I wanted to learn a language with all the brevity and abstractness as Python, and the guaranteed type safety of C#. That's when I discovered OCaml, a well known functional programming language from the ML family of languages.

Learning OCaml shattered everything I though I knew about programming. I used to think in terms of objects; but after using OCaml and passing functions and partial functions as parameters to other functions (!), I actually found that functional programming is so high level that it makes most OOP design patterns obsolete. I really enjoyed OCaml hacking, but I just couldn't get into the language because of the tiny OCaml community and a serious lack of decent IDEs for OCaml. However, I noticed that Microsoft was pushing a new language called F#, which is more or less a .Net implementation of OCaml. I've been programming in F# since last August, and the language just keeps getting better and better. I predict Microsoft will push F# as the next big language, and it'll probably become a mainstream language on par with C# in the next 2 years.

In addition to the languages above, I've played briefly with PHP, Perl, Ruby, Haskell, and Lisp. Not enough to be proficient in the languages, but just enough to say I've dabbled in them.


What is your preferred or dominant language?
I consider myself a C# programmer first, and a F# programmer on the side.

[Terry]

- How did you get interested in programming?

I was interested in electronics first, and it kind-of led into microcomputers (Z80 and so on).

- What languages do you know?

in rough order of learning

Assembly languages (various)
Forth
Fortran
Pascal
Ada
C
Unix shellscripting (various)
Perl (some)
C++
COBOL (a bit)
Lisp (kinda)
Java
Python
C#

- What is your preferred or dominant language?

I like C# as a langauge, I might slightly prefer Java as a platform. Lisp is really really cool, but I've not done anything serious with it, sadly.

[a_unique_person]

"Programming Languages"

Them's fightin' words.

[ladyattis]

How did you get interested in programming?

For a long time I was more or less interested in physics and the natural sciences, but I found that the power of the computer was something just about everyone still haven't fully understood despite the fact that we made them. So, my interest in computers and programming is both from a theoretical and practical fascination.

What languages do you know?

C, C++, Java, Assembly (MASM), and CLISP.

What is your preferred or dominant language?

It's a split between C and Java. I know it seems strange to have a liking to a VM based language, but it's one of the languages other than C that feels elegant to me.

[whatthebutlersaw]

How did you get interested in programming?
- At work. Took C++, by accident, at University and hated it. Decided to work in media. Did not work in media. Worked *****
Do not bypass the censor
jobs for long time. Got slightly better job due to hard earned C++ credits in Uni report. Used COBOL at slightly better job. Didn't care for it. Learned to love SAS at slightly better job. Was offered much better job due to SAS on CV. Love new job.

What languages do you know?
For a certain value of "know": C++, SAS (Used Cobol but never got to know it) I am still a novice.

What is your preferred or dominant language?

SAS, without a doubt. Simple, structured, consistent. Useful.

I would like to add a question, since I am new to programming and assume that there are other n00bs out there who would like to join in but feel the rest of you will not want to hear from small fry like us, but I'd like to branch out if I may:

What programming languages do you plan to learn in the near future?

SPSS, Python.

[Wudang]

How did you get interested in programming?
I was doing a BSc majoring in psych when I had to "program" an Apple II Europlus which I found interesting so did a post-grad diploma in Comp Sci and got hired by IBM as a systems programmer in 1984

What languages do you know?
In chronological order
Pascal
Ada
C
korn shell
PL/I
IBM s/390 assembler
CLIST
Rexx
C++
java
COBOL
perl
VBA

What is your preferred or dominant language?
Preferred is Rexx. Probably wrote more COBOL than anything else (or it feels that way)
What programming languages do you plan to learn in the near future?
Don't know.

[PingOfPong]

- How did you get interested in programming?



My mother was a programmer/systems analyst from the early days of computing. She always encouraged me to learn about computers. I remember building forts and obstacle courses out of obsolete punch cards at the government offices where she worked. When I was 10 she gave me a used 286 machine and showed me how to use basic. I made some crappy text based games. *PingOfPong was eaten by a grue*

Kids today don't know how easy they have it. I used to have to call the local library for a lousy 8kps connection. I then had to use the Kermit program to download pictures of naked ladies because my browser was text only. If my 10 megabyte hard drive wasn't already full, I could finally see the pics in all their 8-bit glory.


- What languages do you know?
- What is your preferred or dominant language?


C/C++ is my favorite. This is the only language I can use without ever having to look up details about syntax or keywords. I MUST use assembly all the time though I don't prefer it. Other than that, I'm ok with Java, C#, and I recently learned PHP. I can stumble my way through just about any other language when I have google by my side.

[nathan]

..

[Cleon]

- How did you get interested in programming?


Been doing it since I was a wee little geekling, when my Dad brought home an Apple II+ and I had fun making it do stuff. :)


- What languages do you know?
Lemme see:

BASIC (various flavors, from AppleSoft up through VB)
Fortran
Pascal
C/C++
Forth
Progress 4GL
Perl
tcl/tk (though WAY rusty)
bash scripting
PHP
Java


- What is your preferred or dominant language?
Depends on the need. I'm doing mostly Java development these days, which I love for web app development. (PHP is also very good for this, but you can get into trouble if you don't design your app well.) For something like data mining, I'd much rather hack out a Perl script.

[Lanzy]

I started on an accounting degree in 1970. The school offered its first ever programming course called NEAT/3. I took it and switched majors the next qtr. I have been programming ever since.

Which ones? How many are there? I have programmed in dozens including some obscure ones only used by certain military hardware. I've even "programmed" by board wiring in 1973, office machines, not computers.

Favorite? I'll go with C today. But like others I did 8 years of COBOL back in the day, 5 years of various VB, and a really long year of Fortran.

[bigred]

BASIC (go here go there - unlike many I think at the time it was a good enough language to learn some basics of programming and was even kinda fun)
Assembler (powerful but man I hated it)
FORTRAN
COBOL
Pascal

I tinkered a little in C but got out of serious programming right about then with only casual exposure to the whole "OOPS" thing...now with all the internet/connectivity/etc considerations, I don't even want to think about it. I am pretty proficient in HTML, but don't consider that true "programming" by any means.

I liked FORTRAN overall. It was great for the more number-crunching/decision tree type stuff we did and unlike Assembler it didn't take 100 lines just to say hello.

[Molinaro]

It started with a book. It is titled, "Problem-Solving Methods in Artificial Intelligence" by Nils J. Nilsson 1971.

I picked it up from a yard sale during the summer before high school. It turned out to be the most difficult thing I had tried to read in my 13 years.

Chapter 6: Theorem-proving in the predicate calculus

I had no relevant experience with that subject! It took me a great deal of effort but I actually finished the book, and knew predicate calculus before starting high school. The computational way of thinking had anchored its roots.

I then heard of a 4 week summer school class offered that same summer, in computer programming. I got in and found myself sitting in front of a Commodore Pet (http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=commodore%20pet&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi). The teacher had a big box on his desk. He told us it was a 5 meg HD and we were impressed, while having no clue.

I learned BASIC on those machines.

That Christmas my parents bought me an ATARI 600XL (http://images.google.ca/images?hl=en&q=atari%20600xl&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi). I then set about to learn 6502 assembly, and I did.

High school didn't teach me anything about computers. My year was the 1st time they offered a computer course!

But I then went on to Ryerson University for a Bachelor of Technology in Applied Computer Science.


I found languages to be fascinating and so took the courses that would maximize the number of languages I would learn, such as comparative languages and compiler writing.


I am most familiar with, and been paid to write:

C, C++, ASP, VBASIC, JSCRIPT, SQL, PASCAL, COBOL, MVS/JCL, IBM 360 ASM, REXX, Dataflex

as well as HTML, DOS shell scripts, and other common as well as proprietary scripts.


I've written code in:

Ada, APL, LISP, FORTRAN, JAVA, ML, Modula 3, Prolog, Scheme, Smalltalk, SNOBOL


And these assembly languages in pretty much the following order:

6502, 8808, 8086, 80286, 80386, 80486, IBM 360, R10000, IBM 370



Right now I'm halfway through the book "C# for Programmers Second Edition" by Dietel and Dietel 2006. I have yet to write a line but with my approach to languages I expect to learn this one as quickly as any other.

My dominant language is plain old C. I love pointers! What can I say, I didn't shy away from pointers to functions either.

[Ohmer]

- How did you get interested in programming?

I was one of the "special" 4th graders that got to take time out of class to use the school's super cool Commodore PET (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Commodore_PET). My first program was an ASCII rocket that launched continually.

- What languages do you know?
C
perl (http://xkcd.com/208/)
Unibasic (Don't ask)

- What is your preferred or dominant language?

I use perl more than anything.

[DavidS]

How did I get interested in programming?
Computers are cool; 'nuff said.
Computers don't mind tedium; I do.
Computers aren't lazy; I am.
Computers are obedient; I'm bossy.

What languages do I know?
In more-or-less chronological order and letting "know" span a considerable range of value, freshness, and fondness...

FORTRAN <tinker only>
COBOL <bad yuk, long stale>
BASIC <yuk>
EXEC2 <long stale>
REXX <long stale>
SAS <yay! especially SAS-GRAPH>
JCL <yuk>
6502 machine code <bits and mnemonics, long stale>
DOS batch <bad yuk>
Assembler (esp. 6502, 8086)
M204 <yuk, long stale>
C
Lisp <for Emacs, of course>
C-shell <harmful, though chauvinists (http://www.faqs.org/faqs/unix-faq/shell/csh-whynot/) tell it worse than it is>
awk <yay! Favorite hammer. Many problems look like nails>
Korn shell <workhorse; incl. pdksh and ksh-93 quirks>
perl <to tinker; I tend to skip to C if awk won't reach>
Python <learning, tinkering>

Yes, I'm a dinosaur.

What is my preferred or dominant language?
In go-to order:
awk <damned handy for common text parsing>
Korn shell <general *nix process scripting>
C <when binary systems operations unavoidable [rare nowadays]>
SAS <alas, platform and license limited>

[moopet]

- How did you get interested in programming?
I liked the idea of computers and then my parents bought me a ZX81. There wasn't anything you could do with it that didn't involve programming, and the only way was up.

I haven't written anything much in the last couple of years and before that the last thing was a web-based terminal with PHP for the front and a CGI in C for the back.

- What languages do you know?

Z80 Assembler
808x Assembler
A few BASICs (8-bit machines, IBM ROM, Quick, Turbo, Visual)
C (Turbo/GNU/Visual)
C++
Smattering of Java.
JavaScript
Modula-2
Pascal
PHP
Some shell stuff goes here, seeing how other people mentioned it. bash, dos batch files, etc.

- What is your preferred or dominant language?
Dominant? PHP. Preferred? C.
I love me some hot pointer-on-pointer action.

[jwwalker]

I learned BASIC in high school - not a class, just a terminal I could use in my spare time. I'm showing my age, that was before personal computers.

Besides BASIC, languages I have used include FORTRAN, IBM 360 assembly language, PL/1, Pascal, Cobol, C, C++, and Objective-C.

My dominant language is C++, though I'm starting to use more Objective-C.

[The Sopwith Turtle]

How did you get interested in programming?

Had a computer at home as long as I can remember. My father bought programming books every so often, and I'd read them and spend hours doing stuff in Quickbasic. Then I got involved in writing the library management software for my school library (completely student-written. My cousin, who also went to the same school, did most of the work). Then I had to learn things like C++ and Matlab in college for research.

What languages do you know?
(In chronological order)
BASIC (Quickbasic, GW-BASIC)
Pascal
Visual Basic 5/6 (and some SQL).
C
Matlab
Igor (A weird niche platform for working with large data sets)
C++ (To write high-speed plugins for above)
Haskell
Prolog
Python

What's your preferred or dominant language?
Python. It's just beautiful in its simplicity and power.

[DavidS]

How could I forget...

Postscript -- a full-fledged programming language; printout is merely a byproduct.

[van_dutch]

How did you get interested in programming?

My father is an electrical engineer and I remember running around his office when I was younger. This resulted in an interest in computers and the like. Thus in high school I started taking programming classes and kept enjoying it more and more.

What languages do you know?
Pascal
C++
Java
LabView (annoys me so much but it can be considered a language in my mind)
MatLab (you can argue this one but I think it is a language)
assorted assembly that I kind of remember from a class
various shell scripts

What's your preferred or dominant language
I prefer Java and C++. I have spent lots of time doing both and they come easy to me. I spent this past summer doing Java Web Services so I am a bit more comfortable with that now. I do spend a lot of time creating LabView programs for data logging and control for the lab I am currently working in while taking classes. It annoys me due to the unintuitiveness when viewing it from a C++ or Java standpoint but it gets the job done. I keep picking up new languages as they become necessary for work or a class.

[Gate2501]

How did you get interested in programming?

I have been gaming my entire life, and as an admirer of art (yes I called video games art), I want more than anything to create it!

What languages do you know?

Python
Perl (but I hate it so bad)
C#
some VB and C++

What is your preferred or dominant language?

C# is definitely my dominant language at the moment due to XNA taking all the misery out of game creation for me, working on a new roguelike now that should be finished in... 6 or 7 months.

[Dr. Trintignant]

- How did you get interested in programming?

Had a Commodore VIC-20 in around 1983 (I was 5) and did stuff in BASIC:
10 PRINT "HELLO!"
20 GOTO 10

My interest in programming kinda dwindled for a while, but resurged in high school after learning C to code a ray tracer (my interest in computer graphics really drove this).

- What languages do you know?

I'm sure I've written programs in dozens of languages over the years, from assembly to Prolog. But I'm only currently fluent in C++ and Perl (as in, I can write a full-fledged program without picking up a reference). Well, I can write a little SQL also but nothing too complicated.

- What is your preferred or dominant language?

Either C++ or Perl. The two together pretty much totally cover my needs. I think I get more joy from coding in Perl, but if I had to pick a language to use for everything, it would be C++.

- Dr. Trintigant

[jeremyp]

How did you get interested in programming?
Parents bought a Commodore PET (16K model). Never looked back.

What languages do you know?
In roughly chronological order:
Microsoft BASIC
6502
Lisp
Pascal
C
Z80
68000
fly (Functional Language York)
Prolog (OK I lie, I never got to grips with that one)
Cobol
Burroughs Algol
Ingres 4GL
SQL (if you can call it a programming language)
VAX Fortran
sh and csh
Visual Basic 5
C++
Java
Perl
PHP 4
C#
Objective C
Javascript
Intel 386

Also fairly proficient at HTML (not a programming language) and XML (ditto, although see Adobe Flex) and can even write XML schemas.

I've left out one or two of the more obscure proprietary languages that I hve had the misfortune to come across (the assembler for the Siemens H120 mainframe front end processor is close to my heart).

What is your preferred or dominant language?
Current favourite is Objective C. If you must graft an object oriented paradigm on to C, Objective C is the right way to do it. Java is acceptable and so is C# but I have come to believe C++ should have been strangled at birth, even though it was my favourite language for many years.

The language I use most in my work activities is Java.

I think you should have added a couple more categories:

Worst languages in my opinion
Prolog for me. I never could grok it.

Any language where white space has more syntactic significance than merely separating the real language elements and formatting them nicely. For this reason, Python is fit only for the dustbin.
Most inappropriate use of a language
On the project involving the aforementioned Siemens mainframe we had to write some code to implement a slightly bastardized version of X.25 (that's why I had to learn the FEP assembler). They made us use Cobol. We had a memorable time manipulating bit fields without any bitwise operators. There was lots of stuff like:

DIVIDE X BY 8 GIVING Y REMAINDER LAST-THREE-BITS
DIVIDE Y BY 4 REMAINDER BITS-4-TO-5

[Princess]

Most inappropriate use of a language
On the project involving the aforementioned Siemens mainframe we had to write some code to implement a slightly bastardized version of X.25 (that's why I had to learn the FEP assembler). They made us use Cobol. We had a memorable time manipulating bit fields without any bitwise operators. There was lots of stuff like:

DIVIDE X BY 8 GIVING Y REMAINDER LAST-THREE-BITS
DIVIDE Y BY 4 REMAINDER BITS-4-TO-5

My company sells one of those types of languages that falls under the umbrella term "mainframe core". Its 20 years of code written in an ancient language resembling the demonic spawn of COBOL, BASIC, and some flavors of Assembly.

The language is everything you expect from a 20-year old mainframe programming language: all fields are fixed width; supports classes and modules but no inheritance; native interface for read/writing flat-file databases.

Its most interesting feature is its GUI support. GUIs always look something straight out of Windows 3.2; GUIs are single-threaded and form rendering occurs in the same thread. However, there's no event loop, so forms aren't capable of redrawing themselves directly.

Everytime a user does anything, like clicking on a button, the old form is destroyed and a new form is created as a new process. This gives the form a chance to redraw itself and handle events. The new process/form gets a copy of all the old form data, and a structure holding the string ID of the object that raised the event and the type of event it raised is passed to a method. From there, the programmer writes long long SELECT CASE statements to catch and handle "events" and call the appropriate method.

There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

[PingOfPong]

My company sells one of those types of languages that falls under the umbrella term "mainframe core". Its 20 years of code written in an ancient language resembling the demonic spawn of COBOL, BASIC, and some flavors of Assembly.

The language is everything you expect from a 20-year old mainframe programming language: all fields are fixed width; supports classes and modules but no inheritance; native interface for read/writing flat-file databases.

Its most interesting feature is its GUI support. GUIs always look something straight out of Windows 3.2; GUIs are single-threaded and form rendering occurs in the same thread. However, there's no event loop, so forms aren't capable of redrawing themselves directly.

Everytime a user does anything, like clicking on a button, the old form is destroyed and a new form is created as a new process. This gives the form a chance to redraw itself and handle events. The new process/form gets a copy of all the old form data, and a structure holding the string ID of the object that raised the event and the type of event it raised is passed to a method. From there, the programmer writes long long SELECT CASE statements to catch and handle "events" and call the appropriate method.

There is much wailing and gnashing of teeth.

Say what? Hey, can I have your customer list?

Why do people still use COBOL (or its kin) when all I hear of it is misery? Surely one can whip up a modern language compiler for any kind of hardware.

[bokonon]

Perl (but I hate it so bad)

Gamers. Pfhhhht.

[blobru]

How did you get interested in programming?


After a BA in philosophy, comp. sci. seemed a practical follow-up, like getting to build stuff out of logic. Also, lifelong fascination with games and strategy: fun to write programs that are smarter than I am (and not all that hard :mad: either).

What languages do you know?

Roughly in order of familiarity: C++, C, JavaScript, Java, html, LaTeX, VB, VBScript, Assembly, PL/C, Ilog, ActionScript, Scheme, Prolog, Dylan, Fortran, Unix, Python, J, SQL. (some of these arguably not full-fledged "languages".)

What is your preferred or dominant language?

My native tongue will always be C++ I guess; however, I'd love to see a functional language such as F# catch on.

[PhantomWolf]

I started programming at 14 to write my own games in BASIC, since then I have done a lot more, including be head programmer on a couple of major projects.

Languages:

Ada
BASIC
C
C++
C#
LISP
Modula-2
Pascal
VB
VB.NET

Scripting:

ASP
DB-IV
HTML
Javascript
MushCode
SQL
VBA

Most of my work lately has been dealing with connecting various office products together with either Access or Oracle databases, so I tend to have been using VB.NET for creating the applications and VBA for Access macros and SQL for all the connecting guff.

[TheDaver]

Taught myself a bit of HTML – mostly by making documents with FrontPage express and playing around with the code in Notepade. Made a cute little GeoCities site when I was around 17. Found a copy of QuickBasic somewhere and played a bit with it. Then went to college and officially learnt some QuickBasic, C, assembly and 8085 machine code. Since getting my degree, for fun, I’ve gone back and gotten a much better understanding of HTML and picked up CSS, JavaScript and some PHP.

[BenBurch]

- How did you get interested in programming?

I became fascinated with computers in the 1960s; It was the Space Age you know, and then in 1971, when I was in 8th grade, I bought a book called "BASIC, self-taught" which was one of those programmed instruction courses with self-scoring quizzes and etc, and got through it in an afternoon. I then proceeded to write, on paper, a number of programs but was frustrated by the non-existence of any computer to run them on. By 1973 the Microcomputer had arrived on the scene, but I was never rich enough to afford my own until 1985 when I got my Mac 512K. But Junior year in High School, I took a FORTRAN class where we would send punched card decks out to the Community College to be run, and finally I could see the results of my work. And I've been doing it ever since.

- What languages do you know?

BASIC
FORTRAN
Assember
C
C++
PHP
Perl
Forth
Neon
bash
DCL
SQL
Datatrieve
HIBOL
etc...

- What is your preferred or dominant language?

These days, C.

[Rob Lister]

I started with a very odd version of Basic running on a proprietary HP operating system designed specifically for electronic test equipment. Loved it so much I learned FORTRAN and a couple of different assemblers. Then I got a clue and learned a better language: Programmer. It's hard to master (sort of like herding cats) but the pay was better.

[Wudang]

Why do people still use COBOL (or its kin) when all I hear of it is misery? Surely one can whip up a modern language compiler for any kind of hardware.

Where did I pick up the term "software ecology"? If you have a massive code base then converting it to another language or worse, another coding paradigm, is a major project. I mean really major. And for what? So all your programmers get to go on "Java for COBOL programmers" courses and go get better jobs elsewhere?

[PingOfPong]

And for what? So all your programmers get to go on "Java for COBOL programmers" courses and go get better jobs elsewhere?

Are you saying that COBOL is used as software slavery? Viva la revolucion!

There are no major projects, only minor programmers. Ok, I just made that up. It's probably not true at all.

Seriously though, these days I'm constantly amazed at how many open source projects and inexspensive libraries one can draw on to suit any need. There may be no reason to recreate the entire code base.

It's just a though for all you COBOL serfs who are languishing under GO TO statements.

[jeremyp]

Say what? Hey, can I have your customer list?

Why do people still use COBOL (or its kin) when all I hear of it is misery? Surely one can whip up a modern language compiler for any kind of hardware.
The main reason is the enormous mature code base. Nobody is writing new stuff in Cobol, but there's no reason to get rid of the old stuff as long as you can find people to support and maintain it.

[PingOfPong]

^^^^^

Fair enough,

I took a look at COBOL one time and, well, Lovecraft said it best.

The most merciful thing in the world, I think, is the inability of the human mind to program all its software. We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of uncommented code, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The languages, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated GO TO's will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the light into the peace and safety of a new operating system.

H.P. Lovecraft, first paragraph of "The Call of COBOL."

[Wowbagger]

How did you get interested in programming?

The Power it grants you. You can either sit there, allowing the computer to tell you what it can do. Or, you can be the one telling the computer what you want it to do. I chose the latter.

What languages do you know?
Over the years, I have learned many languages. But, forgot most of them. (Including, but not limited to, COBOL. *shudder*)

I think the following list should cover most of what I know relatively well, though I may accidentally omit a few:

VisualBasic Classic (VB1 through VB6, and VBA)
VisualBasic .NET (current version called VB 2008)
Java (though, it has been a few years since I used it, so my knowledge might be out of date.)
JavaScript
J# (ugh.)
T-SQL (this should count, for when doing stored procedures, at least)
C
C++ (ah, the memories of wrangling with ATL...)
C#
PHP (at least a little)

A friend tried to get me into Ruby, but I just never stuck with it, for some reason. And no one seems to like Ruby on Rails, anymore anyway.

I also tried to learn ActionScript (mostly 3.0, since it seems to be better for programmers), but I tend to suck at Flash, in general, so there was little point in going on with it.

I have also attempted to use both NXC and NXJ to program my Lego Mindstorms NXT robot, but I never had time to finish my masterpiece project, yet. I started adapting some AI algorithms from a C code source book, into NXJ. Then the NXC compiler came out, and I figured adapting C code to NXC would be easier. But, then I decided to focus on other, more important, tasks in my life. But, I shall get back to it, one of these days, and then... I shall rule my co-op complex! Mwa-ha-ha-ha-haaaaaaaaaa! (Honestly, I don't think a robot made out of Legos will be quite powerful enough to rule the whole world, so I gotta take it one step at a time, you see.)

Gosh, I could go on. But, in the end, it's all about The Power!

What is your preferred or dominant language?

C#, these days. Though, VB.NET is not so bad. They both compile to the same thing, anyway, so it doesn't matter much.

Microsoft might not be perfect, but I seem to be stuck with their things, as far as my professional career is concerned.

[Wowbagger]

Oh dear! I forgot to mention Classic ASP and VBScript in that last post, even though I spent at least seven years coding in those technologies.

Also, I learned Pascal in High School, as part of the Computer Science AP course. Though, I probably forgot most of it. It wasn't Object Oriented, so that course was already out-of-date when I took it. I think they have since changed it. Right?

And, don't get me started on those Texas Instruments graphing calculators! I spent many an hour programming games into that thing, instead of studying. And, even though most of that work is gone, I regret nothing!!

[Wowbagger]

And now, a few things I gotta say about The Horror that Was J++:

The language was really the same as Java, so I would not count it as a separate language. But, it utilized Microsoft-specific extentions of the Java Virtual Machine, so it kinda acted as if it was a different language, from the stand-point of deployment and such.

The whole idea behind it sucked. Though, for what it's worth, the Dev Enviornment they put together for J++ 6.0 was a class act! It became the predecessor of the current line of VisualStudio Dev Enviornments.

[Wudang]

There are no major projects, only minor programmers. Ok, I just made that up. It's probably not true at all.

Seriously though, these days I'm constantly amazed at how many open source projects and inexspensive libraries one can draw on to suit any need. There may be no reason to recreate the entire code base

No offence intended but you really don't have a clue about the scale of IT in a bank or comparable company. Just keeping compliant with legislation is a major task.

[Angus McPresley]

How did you get interested in programming?

My dad brought home one of the first commercially available computers - a KIM-1 with 1K of RAM, where you had to punch in machine code (not assembly, but the actual numeric values) by hand. I was hooked straight away.

What languages do you know?

The usual allotment, though I'm only really conversant in Java and C presently. I've won the IOCCC before, so that either makes me a good or a bad C programmer.

What is your preferred or dominant language?

Java.

[martu]

How did you get interested in programming?
Acorn Electron bought by my father when I was young, first program (OK second probably after 'Hello World') making a sprite bounce round the screen. Games I guess were the original attraction though I have somehow ended up working in Finance.

What languages do you know?
SQL, VB, C#, VBA, ASP, HTML

Question for others - those of you who list many more languages than this, have you learnt these languages as a hobby or have you had many jobs requiring many languages? I'm in my 30s and only worked with Microsoft tools in all my jobs.

What is your preferred or dominant language?

VB.NET GUI with a SQL Server backend. Though I am writing way too much Excel VBA for my own (and my company’s probably) good these days.

[Crundy]

- How did you get interested in programming?

Writing stupid programs on my dad's spectrum (with the squelchy keyboard) in BASIC when I was about 7. I still remeber this little one liner:

10 PLOT 128, 0: DRAW 0, 155, 2771 * PI

If you have an emulator, give it a try :)

- What languages do you know?

(excluding markup languages, which don't count)
Basic (vbscript, .net & vb6), C#, Java, PHP, Perl

- What is your preferred or dominant language?

At home, C#, at work, VB.NET.

[Wudang]

Notice the bit where I started full time in IT in 1984? Although mainly a mvs - z/series techie I've had to solve odd problems, plug gaps that weren't really anybody's area and now I work integrating monitoring on z/series, aix, sun, hp, iSeries, Tandems, and so on and often have to develop tools on those platforms.
To solve one problem 2 years back as an example I had to recode a assembler functional extension to rexx to let some automation in Rexx talk to MQ and write an exit in C on HP/UX for a product called Connect:enterprise.
This week I'm fixing a data manager tool written in VBA/Excel and also writing its replacement in perl.
My brain hurts.

[Wowbagger]

Wow. Lot's of C# programmers, here. It's really catching on.

[I Ratant]

...
How did you get interested in programming?
...

Flight test began using HP computers for computing instrumentation parameters, in BASIC.
Having had a couple of courses in machine language programming, I could see that BASIC was a handy thing to know, so I taught myself.
It came in handy when debugging other guy's programs..
One time on a test flight the analyst using a program that displayed real-time parameters came to me to complain that the program stopped working.
I had to look thru the thing while the plane was flying to see what had occurred.. a routine standard blunder.. Jumping out of a subroutine to the next step in the program, instead of terminating the subroutine, and then jumping.
BASIC only let you do 10 of those before choking.
Another guy showed me his program to print labels for the tapes used in the recorders on the plane. Something like 600 lines of code. I showed him it could be done with 60.

What languages do you know?

BASIC, some C.. self-taught also.


What is your preferred or dominant language?
...
I gave up programming anything but macros in Lotus and LISP macros for Autocad a long time ago.
I was doing a checkbook program in BASIC, when I discovered that Quicken did what I wanted to be doing, better.
Now I just curse at the bloated crap that comes with Windoze.
Programming my HP41C in RPN was fun. :)

[Pantaz]

... Nobody is writing new stuff in Cobol ...
Not according to this:
"Is Your Next Language COBOL? (http://www.ddj.com/web-development/210602491?cid=RSSfeed_DDJ_WebDevelopment)"
by Michael Swaine
Dr. Dobbs, September 18, 2008

:eek:
<< Collective shudder >>

[Kestrel]

How did you get interested in programming?

I messed around with programmable calculators in the late 1960s. Then took a Fortran class in 1970.

What languages do you know?

Fortran, c, c++, Snobol, Lisp, APL, Basic, and other long dead and forgotten computer languages. Assembly language for a few dozen different processors. Just enough of many scripting languages to be really dangerous.

What is your preferred or dominant language?

Most of my work has been in c for embedded systems.

[Princess]

Question for others - those of you who list many more languages than this, have you learnt these languages as a hobby or have you had many jobs requiring many languages? I'm in my 30s and only worked with Microsoft tools in all my jobs.

I've only ever learned one language, Delphi, for my job.

Most of the other languages I learned because I just enjoy programming. I picked up some languages simply as natural extensions of others. For example, I made the move from VB6, to classic ASP, to ASP.Net with VB.Net, to C#. I picked up Java quickly because its the evil twin of C#.

To a certain extent, I'm learning some languages just because its a good investment. For example, I started programming in OCaml and F# in '07 because its extremely abstract*, functional programming job pay extremely well, and F# is going to become the most dominant language in financial and scientific computing when Microsoft releases Visual Studio 2010.

* Functional programming is abstract in the sense that functional programming makes most (if not all) OOP design patterns obsolete. Once you get the hang of writing idiomatic OCaml, Lisp, or Haskell, it becomes evident that design patterns in Java and C# exist only as klunky workarounds to emulate functionality inherent to any functional programming language.

I learned all other languages because I'm just nerdy and just like writing code.

[Gate2501]

Wow. Lot's of C# programmers, here. It's really catching on.

I had never even tried using C# until I heard about XNA, now I can't see myself coding in any other language (for games at least). It feels so neat and tidy having all my little objects interacting within a series of components.

If you like writing games you should check out the libraries, very fun stuff.

[zooterkin]

- How did you get interested in programming?
My Dad did an evening class in computing, and it looked interesting, so I did the course the next year. I'd also learnt RPN on his Sinclair Scientific calculator, which helped a little. The extra A level helped, and I went on to a computer science degree.

- What languages do you know?
Depends what you mean by 'know' (and also what you mean by 'language' :)). Languages I've written at least one program in are:

PDP8 assembler
SIR
BASIC (various flavours)
Algol 60
COBOL
Fortran
VisiCalc
APL
LISP
Assembler (can't remember now which one, IBM possibly)
PL/C (Forms-based PL/1 variant)
IBM JCL
Various OS scripting languages (IBM OS/VS1, ICL VME/B, VME/K)
C
C++
Pascal
Unix shell script (Bourne, Korn, etc. not csh)
HTML


I've probably missed a couple.

There's a whole lot more I can 'read' that I've never written in (I moved from writing software to supporting it about 10 years ago), e.g. Java and Javascript, various assemblers (6502, Z80, 8x86, ICL), perl, awk, postscript, SQL.


- What is your preferred or dominant language?

C is the one I'm most comfortable with and have used the most. When I started it was K&R, but I think I followed all the changes as the ANSI standard developed.

I think of Algol 60 as the first proper programming language I learnt.

[huw-l]

How did you get interested in programming?

I was taught BASIC in high school. I've always loved computers.

What languages do you know?
Only listing languages I've written production Code in:
Python
Perl
Tcl
Shell (mostly Bash, but some tcsh)
C
Java

What is your preferred or dominant language

Python

[Crundy]

Python sounds good. Just write pseudocode, and then indent it properly.

[RecoveringYuppy]

How did you get interested in programming?

Found out programming was an easy way to make money in my first year of college.

What languages do you know?

Gives me a major headache trying to remember the names of all the languages I've used and forgotten. Got to say I don't understand why the world wasted so much time re-inventing Algol. Everything from Algol to today's c# is just so many tedious variations on a theme. The only real development along the way was the object oriented paradigm.

What is your preferred or dominant language

APL, but the world is forcing a choice of c#.

[negativ]

http://xkcd.com/224/

[Segnosaur]

Just to take a general survey of the programmers here:

- How did you get interested in programming?

Started with a basic programming course in Visual Basic on the Comodore PET computers. (Back then the course was called 'computer math'.) The teacher wasn't very good but it was probably the easiest thing for me to do.


- What languages do you know?

Depends on how you define the word 'know' and what you define as a 'language'.

I have used (either in school, or various work assignments) the following (in roughly chronological order):
- Commodore Basic
- 6502/6510 Assembler
- Pascal
- Csh
- Qantel QicBasic
- PL/1
- JCL
- 68000 Assembler
- C
- Cobol
- Nomad
- LISP
- SQL
- VB 3.0-6.0
- PERL
- Java
- C++
- HTML
- VB.NET
- PHP
- C#


- What is your preferred or dominant language?

VB or VB.net

[Crundy]

Remember when quickbasic came along?

"Oh my god! You don't have to use line numbers? How the hell does that work??"

[Shevek-72]

- How did you get interested in programming?

Was first exposed to a computer when the elder brother of a friend got a VC20 (mid 80th?) and hacked in listings from magazines. I then spend a lot of my spare time in a department store writing Basic on the computers on display there. At the end of each day everything was lost when they turned the power off. I guess the clerks there though I was crazy.


- What languages do you know?

After I finally got my own 'puter I learned 6502 assembler, later a whole lot of other languages (Pascal, Modula-II, Oberon, 68k assembler, C, C++, Perl, Prolog, Java, …)



- What is your preferred or dominant language?


At work it's mostly Java and the odd Perl Script.