November 15, 2003 | View Comments (28) | Category: Programming
Summary: What is your favorite programming language and why?
I thought I would just do a fun little weekend poll talking about your favorite programming language. It doesn't have to be a web-based language such as PHP. It can be anything.
With that in mind I would have to say the most powerful one that I enjoy is C#. Although doing anything Microsoft kills me, C# really is a nice language. When I need something small and quick it is hard to beat PHP. I wish I had more free time to mess around with other languages and to even develop some apps I had in mind, but design is my top priority right now, so until I invent more hours in the day I will have to sit on the sidelines and envy all you code monkeys out there.
I would love to hear what is your favorite and why.
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Python! It's great because it's terse, well-designed, and (at least in the core language and basic libraries) compact. Python is a fun language, and easy for general purpose use and re-use. It's not a high-performance language, and although it's widely supported, it's not well-known. I think my favorite thing about the language is that it's designed to enhance readability by keeping keywords and formatting to a reasonable minimum.
Brian (http://joechip.net/brian/)
My favorite language right now would also have to be C#. IMO, MS did a great job designing the .NET Framework in general, and C# in particular. It's remarkably easy to throw up a fairly complex UI, without all of the grunt work that it would have taken to create the same thing using MFC or, dare I say it, Win32.
For web scripting stuff, I usually use PHP. I'm thinking about looking in to ASP.NET though, so that I can use C# on the web as well as in normal Windows apps.
milbertus (http://www.milbertus.com)
As an incidental scripter, I almost always code in the first language I learned: PHP.
(Okay, that's not true. I came to PHP by way of ASP, but I wanted to do things with a database, and there's no way I'm going to help support Micro$oft by paying SQL Server licensing costs.)
Although PHP can do some powerful things, I'm interested in learning Perl for its all-round functionality and mod_Perl speediness. If only PHP had a make_extra_hour_in_day() function!
JP (http://www.freetheslaves.net)
python, php, c#.
python because it's so elegant and efficient, and it won't allow your syntax to get ugly.
php because it's darn useful and i'm probably more experienced with it than with any other langauge, since i use it so much.
c# because it's basically java but faster. i'm an oop whore. and one must admit that the .net framework isn't a bad idea, especially since it runs on *nix too via mono and .gnu ^__^
vlad (http://vlad.neosurge.net/)
My favorite language is javascript (not .NET version). It is only object-oriented language. It is beautiful.
Second:C#
Third:Java
Fourth:C++
I hate VB & PHP & Perl & Pascal.
Bruce (http://www.flash-applets.com)
well have you ever tried Cocoa (oreilly.com) programming ?, C# is as usual a copy, and you will definetly find a new game : programming. Cocoa is simple, neat and fully object oriented.
On the otehr way, try applescript a script language easy to learn but with powerful features.
NG
gilgam
Ok, Action Script is not really a programming language but I really love it though I'd say I'm only an intermdiate action scripter. From a visual design point of view it's geat for producing crazy experiments. And it's not too bad for the odd apllication either.
When I get time I really want to learn PHP though.
dez (http://www.dezwozhere.com/blog/)
I am currently using VB.Net it is so simple I picked it up in a matter of days, and the .Net framework is very powerful. ASP.Net is a great framework for building web apps and IMHO the only web langauge that even comes close is ColdFusion. I have used several languages, but it is really nice to use a language with a large wad of cash that keeps it growing.
dr.u (http://www.chinaleads.net)
For all of you coldfusion people out there do you see it as a dying language that is only supported in a few places as is the case with COBOL. I have come across CF code many times and I admit it seems very easy to use, but I do not come across it too often when surfing the web.
Scrivs (http://www.9rules.com/whitespace/)
"For all of you coldfusion people out there do you see it as a dying language that is only supported in a few places as is the case with COBOL"
First off, in the next few years, COBOL programmers will see a sharp increase in demand. COBOL ain't goin' away for a long, long time (it works, it works well, and there's no reason to remove it), but the largest group of cobol programmers are close to retirement now... so there are some good job opportunities there. Assuming you're the kind of person who could stand working on a mainframe and maintaining code more than writing it, and when writing, usually only writing different ways to generate reports for the code you support.
You have to think of this from a business perspective, not a 'new technology is cooler than old technology' perspective. An enterprise organization might have millions of lines of cobol business logic code humming away happily on their mainframe, working precisely as it was intended to, with years of uninterrupted service behind it. What possible reason could there be to spend millions of dollars to rewrite that same business logic in a new language (usually java is the one put forth), then have to test it for a year or two and implement it... for what... a small gain in performance, maybe? A few less lines of code? Not needing to go through a CICS gateway to use the business logic on a web application? It's not worth it... through more money into the hardware, use IBMs connection tools... maybe write anything *new* in java, but theres zero net benefit in rewriting reliable working code... so they'll need people ot maintain it.
Second, no, ColdFusion isn't at all a dying language. The reason you don't see it all over is it's more expensive than PHP, so joe bob blogger isn't going to have it on his site. It's on a lot of corporate websites, and even more corporate intranets. It is though a changing language, since CFMX was pretty much rewritten from scratch with a java back end instead of a C++ back end... now you can integrate it with Websphere or Bea or a few other java app servers so you can essentially do enterprise java web applications without having to screw with the poorly planned mess that is JSP. Or you can just keep using it as it was before but with the added benefit of being able to use java code as needed.
I haven't had a chance to work with MX yet, there wasn't a good reason for us to upgrade from 4.5 enterprise to 5 or to MX; but we'll be upgrading our intranet server in the next month or two and will move it up from CF5 Professional to MX Professional, so I'll be able to play. If we find it to be a significant improvement over 5, we may recommend it for the public servers as well... that's more pricy though since they have to run enterprise for clustering and a few security things.
CF is definitely worth learning. You can download a 30 day trial of MX which reverts to a free developers edition after 30 days (dev edition allows connections only from 1 IP address); or you can try one of the more inexpensive hosts that offer CF (cfm-resources.com / freecfm.com) which usually limit you to using an access database, which isn't really a big deal, since SQL syntax is independent of the language you're writing in... just a bit slower to test with than MySQL or SQL2K would be.
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
nobody has mentioned director lingo yet, so i will. it's by no means the prettiest or most rigid language but it makes quick work of most things, especially image manipulation. it's also slow as a dog compared to other languages because it's interpreted and runs in a special environment. but no worse than actionscript or javascript i'd guess.
functions aren't encased in brackets, and many things are written out literally. kind of a cross between javascript and applescript. objects are handled differently than anything else i've seen - you make a parent script and clone it, rather than making an instance of a function. somevar = script("scriptname").new(args)
php was cake to pick up after javascript (which was my first). the syntax is almost identical. you just need to learn some new functions and how certain data types are given to you, such as sql results. print_r comes in handy.
mangoduck (http://mangoduck.popflux.com)
Well when I say COBOL is going the way of the dinosaur I guess what I meant was you don't really hear too many companies saying that they are starting a new project in COBOL. To me all of the new jobs for COBOL will be maintenance for older programs. Very lucrative yes, but exciting it does not seem (damn, am I Yoda or something?).
Scrivs (http://www.9rules.com/whitespace/)
I love PHP. It does everything I need it to for my web apps. Its (IMHO) far better than ASP in terms of built-in functionality, and its speed and DB connectivity is tremendous when compared.
Ease of development is also good. I learned with PHP, then had to use ASP for a client. After searching for days on end, I finally found a free "upload" script for ASP. 300+ lines of code to upload and stick into a db! I recreated this with two or three in PHP (minus the form, obviously). Seemed pretty stupid to me.
For OO programmers, I'd recommend taking a look at PHP5 *with an open mind* when it's released. You may be surprised!
I've also looked at ColdFusion, but to me it seems like XSL with DB-connectivity built in.
dysfunksional.monkey (http://dysfunksion.co.uk)
It will be interesting to see if any really great things come out of PHP5 or if people still continue to do things the PHP4 way. Being a web programmer is one thing, but beinga an OO web programmer is something completely different. Many people will have to learn the principles of OO design if they wish to truly utilize the new features in PHP5.
Scrivs (http://www.9rules.com/whitespace/)
Favorite programming language is JSP, JAVA--with struts. Flexiable, scalible, portable, secure (mostly)--is a bit slow. This combination forces me to right solid applications. Though I will admit the production timeline is slower than other languages.
Cheers.
Michael Carignan (http://www.eyeo.com)
While Java was the first language I learned to code (and the one that taught me why OO is so cool), I never really developed any great love for the language. The syntax and OO support was and is great, but I always found myself using it as a toy language to test algorithms and whatnot, but I never used it for a real-world application.
For web applications, I absolutely love PHP. I wish it was a more strongly-typed language (my coding can get sloppy in a hurry if I'm not careful), and OO support is so-so (I haven't had a chance to play with the PHP5 betas), but it cannot be beat for churning out a web application in a hurry (especially in concert with MySQL).
For desktop applications, I have quickly fallen in love with C#. The only problem I have come up against has been a somewhat quirky implementation of regex, but that probably has more to do with my acclimation to PHP's regex function. Otherwise, it's been an absolute joy to work with.
Paul G
It seems on the web side PHP is the dominant language here and I believe that is for obvious reasons. It may not be the easiest to pick up (CFMX is pretty damn easy) and it may not offer the greatest programming paradigm (Java/.net), but I think it is the most accessible to get to. I am kind of surprised to see there are no real dominate PHP blogging software out there. MT and its Perl seems to rule the day.
Scrivs (http://www.9rules.com/whitespace/)
Put me down for another vote for Python. It is quite simply a joy to work with - fast, powerful, easy to learn but with plenty of scope for improving yourself as a programmer. I've switched from Python to PHP for web development now and it's liberating - the only downside is that PHP hosting is far more commonplace, but if you have your own servers (as we do where I work) mod_python is a great alternative.
Simon Willison (http://simon.incutio.com/)
"exciting it does not seem"
no, exciting it seems not. like factory work it is. grunt scratch coffee break waiting-for-my-pension.
But the kind of projects companies do in cobol aren't the kind that get announced. Just like clothing companies hype their new outfits but don't advertise that they're made by 5 year old kids in bangladesh making three pennies and a cup of rice per day. Well, not exactly like that, but cobol is boring, and projects done with cobol are boring. They're not sexy, they don't get press releases, they just process billions of transactions without complaining. But yeah, it's far more likely to be maintenance work than completely new projects.
--
"For OO programmers, I'd recommend taking a look at PHP5 *with an open mind* when it's released. You may be surprised!"
Looking forward to it, but still can't stand doing OO stuff. Fortunately I'm fairly sure it doesn't *require* oo, just enables it.
"I've also looked at ColdFusion, but to me it seems like XSL with DB-connectivity built in."
Fie! Fie upon thee! heh. The only similarities between CF and XSL are that they both have commands which are shaped like HTML tags rather than script (although ColdFusion has CFScript).
XSL is a pain in the ass to do anything with, ColdFusion is easy as can be. CF is a full fledged development language, XSL has some stuff built in so you can do simple tasks to assist your output of XML.
"I am kind of surprised to see there are no real dominate PHP blogging software out there. MT and its Perl seems to rule the day."
Usual open source community nonsense, mostly. come out with 50 things that do almost the same thing, then load them up with features while leaving most of the bugs in place, all to compete with the other open source project because you want to show that your balls are bigger and hairier than the other guys. Eventually someone with some common sense gets involved and creates something worth using on his own or with a small, limited group, and then takes some additions from the community as a whole but only the ones that are worth keeping. There are two pieces of blogging softare in that position in PHP right now -- the free, open-source wordpress -- wordpress.org (which I use) and PMachine - pmachine.com (which I tried last year but got frustrated with... confusing admin interface), which has a free edition or a 'pro' edition which runs $45 for joe user and $125 for joe user's company. pMachine is a bit better organized and has better documentation, and their support is a lot better (wordpress has lots of 'coming soon - read the readme file for instructions' on their website). WordPress works fine though, and it's a pretty solid product; it's a port of the b2 weblog.
JC (http://www.thelionsweb.com/weblog)
How can you not stand doing OO stuff? OO is teh win man! Okay, enough geekiness. OO really shines through on larger projects I think. On a small site like this there is almost no point, but to just use straight structural code. I guess the beauty of PHP is that it lends itself to both types of design.
Scrivs (http://www.9rules.com/whitespace/)
For system programming, Objective C, is hands-down the coolest language. Think C++ done right.
For web programming PHP wins the day for readability and practicality.
For geeking out, traditional ANSI C and Unix is a great playground to understand some of the deeper issues in computer science that modern software has made us all but forget.
I am looking forward to PHP 5, not because I prefer OOP, but because limitations in PHP 4 make it work in unintuitive memory-wasting ways. I like OOP, but I believe it is over-applied. Many of the benefits of code reusability and inheritance are overstated when it comes to a real world project with changing specifications. Furthermore, many of the benefits of OOP could be achieved in other ways, it's just that all the development has gone into OO languages. See this alternative: http://www.geocities.com/tablizer/top.htm
Gabe (http://www.websaviour.com/)
Oh, I mostly hate having to declare crap ahead of time, coax numbers to be treated as numbers or vice versa, and so on. Seems like a step backwards, to me, somehow.
At least with PHP you won't have to have 40 java import statements in each file just for it to function.
JC (http://www.thelionsweb.com/weblog)
"I am kind of surprised to see there are no real dominate PHP blogging software out there. MT and its Perl seems to rule the day."
It's probably because MT is just that good. I've been thinking about getting hosting that supports ASP.NET stuff, so that I can do .NET stuff on my site, but I just haven't heard of any ASP.NET-based blogging software that can match MT. MT just works, and it works very well. It's hard to beat that.
milbertus (http://www.milbertus.com)
"but I just haven't heard of any ASP.NET-based blogging software that can match MT."
Then write some, ya code monkey! :-)
Or have two seperate sites. Nothing wrong with doing it that way.
off topic a bit... did you guys see about 1and1.com? It's the new US branch of the biggest ISP in germany and one of the biggest in europe... they're offering their best non-dedicated-server package for free. for three years. no strings... they're paying for it by not advertising... letting word of mouth do all the work.
I signed up for one to play a bit... haven't done much yet, but the control panel looks pretty decent. The activaction process was interesting, a lot like getting an SSL cert from instantssl or freessl.
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)
You know I see that ad in InformationWeek every week (obviously) and thought about trying it out. Nothing wrong with putting a play site up there. You do have to wonder though how the hell they make any money from THREE FREE years of service.
Scrivs (http://www.9rules.com/whitespace/)
behold, a php/mysql cms: http://textpattern.com/
php (to me) is quite a bit friendlier than perl, in everything from installation through development. after getting used to the former, perl looks like bizarro-php: it's similar in a lot of ways but don't be fooled (whoa there's percent signs all over!). i'll probably learn it one of these days.
mangoduck (http://mangoduck.popflux.com)
Another vote for Python. Hands down, the easiest general-purpose language to learn, with UI bindings for both Linux and Windows, several full-featured application servers for web development, and a library as large and powerful as anything out there.
Did I mention it's mindbogglingly easy to learn?
It also has an important design consideration: six months after you wrote the program, if you go back and look at it, you can tell what it is you meant to do. Most languages require too much effort to discern a program's purpose after the fact. Not so with Python.
Elf M. Sternberg
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#1
My favorite rather depends on what I need to do, I guess... there isn't anything faster than ColdFusion for doing web applications... but any time I have to do anything moderately complicated with strings, I find myself wishing for PHP because it has so many more string processing functions without having to resort to advanced regular expressions...
And RegEx isn't a programming language, per se, but it's a damned good thing to know... I use basic regex a lot... I try to reuse as much code as possible to cut development time, and a nice text editor like textpad plus knowing some basic regex can do some wonderful things with that.
PHP feels good to code in, but I'm not as proficient with it as I am with CF.
'course, my favorite piece of code ever was this:
10 PRINT "Oops, I broke the program"
20 GOTO 10
or something like that... lol... waaaaaaay back when.
JC (http://thelionsweb.com/weblog)