Are you a polyglot programmer?

[hec]

@AstonJ

Did you become one intentionally? Or it happened out of necessity?

• I’d say out of necessity, was in a startup before and need to handle both backend and frontend code.

@AstonJ

Do you enjoy being a polyglot programmer? (Or would you prefer isomorphism, being able to do everything in one language.)

• It seems that I enjoy accepting the constraints of a language in exchange for more focused, appropriate solutions that it can provide. If I want speed and efficiency, then I think I’ll go with Rust. If it’s stability and beautiful code then with Erlang / Elixir.

@AstonJ

Do you frequently pair or use multiple languages in an app, which ones

• JS and Elixir / Erlang most of the time, sprinkled with css and bash

[OvermindDL1]

@AstonJ

This is what I’m finding - and enjoying - a lot! Though I’m guessing my path may be something like single language → polyglot → back to one or two languages (or even preferring isomorphism if possible) but with the added know-how learned from other languages.

Try to keep up with 2 or 3 very different languages to use for personal projects, helps keep the mind fresh in patterns.

[Cochonours]

@AlchemistCamp

Does anybody really just learn one programming language?

I don’t think it’s really about learning one language, but deciding to use only one or maybe two in your life. Most devs I met at work in the past specialised themselves in one language, and one language only. Not only that, they tried to specialise themselves in just a few libraries of that language in order to best fit the ecosystem they bet on, and they did so because it gave them an edge for higher paying jobs. They all went to university, learned a few languages throughout their masters, then decided upon the True one they wanted to spend their remaining life time with.

[dimitarvp]

I do believe learning several different concepts on how things are done is extremely valuable and educational. At least it was for me.

That being said, there’s a limit. At certain point in my career/life I found myself endlessly chasing every single small bit of potentially useful information for the 5 languages I worked with at the time. It was exhausting and in the end overloaded my brain and burned me out.

IMO at one point in your career you should stop, think hard on what you would work with pleasure (or at least without complaints) and try and develop your skills in just a few languages and frameworks very deeply. It’s both better for the brain and for your job security.

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Back on topic, I worked with Assembler, C, C++, Java, PHP, Ruby, Go and Elixir. Casually learning Rust and OCaml and loving both so far (sadly OCaml’s tooling is as genius as it is tedious so I might drop it because of that).

But right now I prefer to learn Elixir to the core of its bones and be proficient enough in Rust to offload heavy computations to it when the need calls for it.

Go is still very tempting because it’s rapidly turning into the modern Java (and the demand gets more and more) but I don’t think I can keep my sanity if my paycheck depended on it. I am glad that it doesn’t.

So yes, I am kind of a polyglot, I feel I could learn a few more very different languages – Haskell, Racket, Idris come to mind – but currently my health requires me to work in a more focused manner and not get distracted by every new shiny. So I am taking that road.