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Discussion on: What "second" language would you recommend a JS Full-Stack Developer?

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peerreynders profile image
peerreynders • Edited

I'm feeling kinda interested in learning another server-side language for web development. Plus, I want to increase my backend skills in general.

From a pragmatic perspective Golang would be the contemporary choice. It seems to have the mass appeal of Python with a C-style syntax capable of producing binary executables.

"It must be familiar, roughly C-like. Programmers working at Google are early in their careers and are most familiar with procedural languages, particularly from the C family. The need to get programmers productive quickly in a new language means that the language cannot be too radical."

Go at Google: Language Design in the Service of Software Engineering

While language-level concurrency primitives are nice they somehow seem to have missed including the complementary error handling primitives (Erlang).


However if you are looking to improve as a programmer it's probably necessary to look in a completely different direction. Pick a LISP or Scheme (Racket) and go with it.

Systematic Program Design

Given that

"I was recruited to Netscape with the promise of “doing Scheme” in the browser" [ref]

the experience will feed back into your JavaScript style.

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christiankozalla profile image
Christian Kozalla

I like your pragmatic perspective and already have a small tendency towards Go :)

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henryong92 profile image
Dumb Down Demistifying Dev

I would think the same for Golang and Rust.
For server side performance and general community support.
Even though both languages are relatively young they are definitely proven technologies that are extremely performant as well.
Developer and business perspective both are wins.