Current Events > What should I learn as my second programming language?

(+) Yeah! (+)

I've been learning Java for about 8 months now, not to say I'm done learning it but I feel like I got the fundamentals down well enough to spread my legs a bit. What should I learn? I guess Python is a pretty relevant language nowadays. Maybe JS or some shit if I ever want to get in to web dev? Next semester I'm starting C, so I could get a head start on that, but idk if I should since it sounds like I'm gonna want to learn it concurrently with my data structures course.
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ruby on rails
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Technically not a programming language but I'd go for SQL next.

Probably mysql.
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I like python. C++ is also useful imo
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DevsBro posted...

Technically not a programming language but I'd go for SQL next.

Probably mysql.

Agreed. You can do some crazy shit with SQL.
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DevsBro posted...

Technically not a programming language but I'd go for SQL next.

Probably mysql.

Oh, shit... I guess my third language, then. I had a semester of SQL (PostgreSQL, not MySQL) in my first semester. :P I didn't really get that far, but I learned enough to navigate databases.
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Since you're still new I would do Python, then C++. After you've learned around 3 languages you start to realize that changing languages is mainly a change of syntax and cultural conventions.

After this realization you should try a non procedural/OO language such as Prolog or Scheme.
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Of course somewhere in there you want to learn HTML/CSS/JS and a web stack like LAMP.
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Python is a good combination of easy to use and increasingly popular, especially in the AI space.

Also

Minute posted...

to spread my legs a bit.

I don't think that's the expression you're looking for.
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I'd recommend spreading your legs for Python. It's very convenient if you have an idea and just want to prototype something real fast. Also yeah, learn javascript & jQuery if you wanna get into web dev.
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IllegalAlien posted...

After this realization you should try a non procedural/OO language such as Prolog or Scheme.

I tried Prolog and I really liked a lot of the concepts but it was just so difficult to work with. Some of the syntaxes for more complex operations just felt like they were pulled out of thin air even though it's clearly just the normal syntaxes of the language linked together.
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IllegalAlien posted...

Of course somewhere in there you want to learn HTML/CSS/JS and a web stack like LAMP.

no one uses the lamp stack anymore

I actually really like Go for web servers.
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DevsBro posted...

IllegalAlien posted...

After this realization you should try a non procedural/OO language such as Prolog or Scheme.

I tried Prolog and I really liked a lot of the concepts but it was just so difficult to work with. Some of the syntaxes for more complex operations just felt like they were pulled out of thin air even though it's clearly just the normal syntaxes of the language linked together.

Prolog is really nice for very specific applications. If you're a great Prolog programmer you can do some really elegant encodings. Compared to most people I'm a "good" Prolog programmer (I'm getting a paper published in TPLP 2018), but I'm complete shit compared to real Prolog programmers like my advisor and his advisor (my grand-advisor?).

Evil_Evil_Evil_ posted...

IllegalAlien posted...

Of course somewhere in there you want to learn HTML/CSS/JS and a web stack like LAMP.

no one uses the lamp stack anymore

IDK I used LAMP just 2 years ago to make some pretty nice websites including postholdings.com

Every WordPress/Drupal site on the internet is LAMP.
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IllegalAlien posted...

DevsBro posted...

IllegalAlien posted...

After this realization you should try a non procedural/OO language such as Prolog or Scheme.

I tried Prolog and I really liked a lot of the concepts but it was just so difficult to work with. Some of the syntaxes for more complex operations just felt like they were pulled out of thin air even though it's clearly just the normal syntaxes of the language linked together.

Prolog is really nice for very specific applications. If you're a great Prolog programmer you can do some really elegant encodings. Compared to most people I'm a "good" Prolog programmer (I'm getting a paper published in TPLP 2018), but I'm complete shit compared to real Prolog programmers like my advisor and his advisor (my grand-advisor?).

Well yeah you use it for recursive and FSM-like applications, which is something I could definitely have use for. But I just found it so difficult to learn.
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DevsBro posted...

IllegalAlien posted...

DevsBro posted...

IllegalAlien posted...

After this realization you should try a non procedural/OO language such as Prolog or Scheme.

I tried Prolog and I really liked a lot of the concepts but it was just so difficult to work with. Some of the syntaxes for more complex operations just felt like they were pulled out of thin air even though it's clearly just the normal syntaxes of the language linked together.

Prolog is really nice for very specific applications. If you're a great Prolog programmer you can do some really elegant encodings. Compared to most people I'm a "good" Prolog programmer (I'm getting a paper published in TPLP 2018), but I'm complete shit compared to real Prolog programmers like my advisor and his advisor (my grand-advisor?).

Well yeah you use it for recursive and FSM-like applications, which is something I could definitely have use for. But I just found it so difficult to learn.

Yeah you need to break the habit of writing procedural code. This is actually mostly a lie since it's easiest to write Prolog procedurally. The main thing is you need to really understand SLD resolution.
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html

lisp
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AlleyViper620 posted...

Minute posted...

to spread my legs a bit.

I don't think that's the expression you're looking for.

i wanna be a programming language slut
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Any good programmer knows one esoteric language like brainfuck.
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LinksLiege posted...

Any good programmer knows one esoteric language like brainfuck.

Luckily for me I'm not even approaching the fuckin gravity well of "good programmer" yet.
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Go through the tour of Go: https://tour.golang.org/welcome/1

It'll take a very short time. It's a small and simple language but very effective and well-designed. Plus, if you're doing C next, Go is basically C but with conveniences like a garbage collector, interfaces, reflection, etc.
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BASIC

Had to type more because of all caps.
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reading about prolog
it seems really interesting but out of my wheel-house still :grimace:
maybe if I REALLY put in the elbow grease I could fully wrap my head around it (it seems like the polar opposite to java :V) but I think I'll kick that tantalizing can down the road when I'm a little bit more confident in my skills.
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Ansible and Python
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Bump
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