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You can only use one programming language for the rest of your life. What do you choose?

Diner Das on April 13, 2022

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Ashwin Hariharan • Edited

I guess whatever language helps me earn a living, and also something that casts a wide net to cover as many areas of software engineering as possible. At the moment, that would be JavaScript.

Almost every industry requires a website / web app, and at present JavaScript dominates this area, at-least when it comes to building user interfaces. But that's note all - with JavaScript, I can also build mobile and desktop applications, do server-side programming and build backends, and even do machine learning.

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Sherry Day

I think C is the safe choice if I want to make sure I can still do lots of stuff.

I'd prefer only coding in Python, but I feel like I'd be more limited in the long run.

I think in it is about optionality vs enjoyment.

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Gianluca Tessarolo

Absolutely Java

(I'm 60 yo, I've learned and used many languages in my life, QuickBasic, xBase (Clipper & QuickSilver), VisualBasic, Delphi (Object Pascal), Java, Ruby but Java still remains my favorite !)

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Alexander B.K.

Clipper :)
I used its "brother" : FoxPro 2.6 for DOS from which I earned money for the 1st time by using a programming language.

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Pavel

Good choice. But have you ever used javascript? 😏

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AndyRosenberg • Edited

Ruby

Lots of interesting things happening as of the last couple years. Hotwire for Rails, Glimmer taking off for desktop development, more concurrency libraries, etc. I’m starting to look into Ruby’s ML options too, would love to see more resources devoted to those.

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Ben Halpern

I'd +1 for Ruby for general enjoyment, confidence that it will keep improving, etc. It would definitely limit a few things I'd ideally want to do, but I'd probably be happy.

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Rudy Nappée

Js... A swiss army knife 😁

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ecyrbe

Definitly Rust.

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Ishaan Sheikh

Probably C# as it will cover most of the platforms.

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Martin Wheeler

JavaScript

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Alexander B.K. • Edited

Although I am still learning it, I think I will pick Java, because I know it can be used to build apps for 3 areas :

  1. Desktop non-web (GUI), like VB6, Delphi, VB.net, C# do on windows
  2. Web back-end, esp with J2EE or Spring framework
  3. Android, although Kotlin is a strong alternative for this area. I feel, I cannot call myself a real programmer before I have used Java in a real project. Some people said similar things on C++.

However, still consider C# as the strong alternative, although don't have time to learn it currently.

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Tony Nguyễn

Golang

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Peter Repukat

C++
Yeah, really.
As it's the one that restricts me the least, and helps me restrict my APIs the most so that other Devs don't screw up too too much

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Jonas Manthey

something esoteric, gotta stay entertained

malbolge maybe

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Kasey Speakman

It's a tough call between F# and Clojure.

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Eduard

Been learning clojure lately, completely new experience to me. It's been really refreshing and I love all of its concepts.

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js-god

Bring back Turbo Pascal bro!!!

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Alexander B.K.

:):)
Pascal was once the best one for introducing programming language. It can still be the better one for that purpose instead of the likes of Python.

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On Work

If I could only use one programming language for the rest of my life, I’d choose [insert language here, e.g., Python]. Python is incredibly versatile and widely used across various domains, including web development, data science, automation, and more. Its simplicity and readability make it accessible for beginners, while its extensive libraries and frameworks provide powerful tools for more advanced projects. This combination of ease of use and robust functionality would make it a practical choice for a wide range of applications.

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matthew-salerno

Probably python or C++ for their proven legacy and versatility. I personally prefer C to C++ but C++ gives me more options.

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js-god • Edited

Bring back turbo pascal bro!!!

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Medea

Python, because it’s the language I know best and have fun in!

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Paulkelvin

JavaScript for me

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Kirill Shestakov

That's a tough choice... I think I would go for Rust, because there is no shortage of things to learn about it, and it has a plenty of applications.

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Christian Vasquez

Probably Kotlin

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Conner Ow

Javascript would be my goto language. I can still build large next.js applications (lots of inline react styles). I mean, it's what I use 90% of the time in web dev now.

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Rohit Mendadhala

Python for LIFE

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gabrielclimb

Python

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Sandilya Bhamidipati

Unix Shell. Bash.

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Ebenezer Awuku

Definitely going with JavaScript.

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Umakanta Behera

JavaScript

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Riccardo Bernardini

One language for everything? Ada, no doubt.

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Zach Blake

Golang

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Eljay-Adobe

D.

Backup choices: F♯, Python.

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Marco Colli

Ruby... 90% of the code that I wrote in the last 10 years is Ruby!

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Rebecca DuPont

Yup, it's going to be JavaScript for me

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Elcamino

For sure javascript

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aspeval

PHP is the best language in the world, I'm kidding
No language matters, what matters is developing ideas

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Dom Grad

Has to be Javascript. Its a love and hate relationship 😅