[Chester LUG] Looking to learn a language

[Richard Smedley]

On 05/04/11 13:33, Sebastian Arcus wrote:
> I'd certainly be interested meet/debate. Programming languages are one
> of those cool things, where you are guaranteed to have eloquent debates
> for hours and hours from all sides :D - as long as things don't get too
> heated up.

You have this in mind? ;^)
<http://groups.google.com/group/geekup/browse_thread/thread/88d5904f806feb95>

[snip]
> However, I found C, somehow, really logical. It's hard to describe.

"C - the power of assembler code, but with all the abstraction
& ease of assembler code"? ;-P

Actually, every coder should learn C. However, I don't
think it's the answer for the OP, as although an elegant,
simple & powerful language, it's not the way to
Get Things Done Quickly [TM]

Nor is Java, however many other things can be said
in its favour.

Ruby & Python, both mentioned, are great places
to start - they do similar things but in
significantly diffent ways. Why not spend a couple
of days learning the basics of each, and see which has
the best "feel" for you? Programming is a very
personal thing.

I also stand by my recommendations for JavaScript [1],
a complete language for which *everyone* has a runtime,
and which will grow rapidly on the server in the
next few years.
& Clojure - "Lisp done right", and it runs on the JVM,
hence anywhere.
Either fit most of the requirements of the OP.

> I'll go away now, before I stoke this fire too much :-)

It's great to have a flame-free language discussion.
Nobody mention which editor to use! ;o)

>> Perhaps there's an opportunity for us to have a meet where we give a
>> brief overview of our chosen language. Would be a really good chance to
>> discuss the differences and introduce non-developers to the basic
>> concepts.

+1

 - Richard

[1] In fact we're looking at JavaScript for a project
    to teach kids to code.