I really wasn’t judging the language. If I were writing the same program in C++ I would have come up with pretty much the same algorithm and probably code pretty close to what Vince Huston had. The point is that having experience in higher level languages or different programming paradigms can improve your skills even if you’re coding in a lower level language because it gives you new tools for thinking about the problem. The obvious algorithm to a C++ programmer involved a bunch of nested loops while the obvious algorithm for someone with scripting experience involves a hashtable and the obvious solution for a Haskell programmer involves reusable higher order functions.
Anyone reading this post and seeing anything controversial I think is reading too much into it. It pretty much boils down to “having a broad understanding of programming is good.”
I have nothing against C++ or Java programmers or anyone else unless they have the mindset of “well, I know $LANGUAGE and I can get work done in it so there’s no point in me learning any other language that might make my head hurt.” A Lisp programmer who thinks they would have nothing to learn from studying assembly programming I would consider equally foolish.
anders pearson - 2007-10-31 14:29:23
I really wasn’t judging the language. If I were writing the same program in C++ I would have come up with pretty much the same algorithm and probably code pretty close to what Vince Huston had. The point is that having experience in higher level languages or different programming paradigms can improve your skills even if you’re coding in a lower level language because it gives you new tools for thinking about the problem. The obvious algorithm to a C++ programmer involved a bunch of nested loops while the obvious algorithm for someone with scripting experience involves a hashtable and the obvious solution for a Haskell programmer involves reusable higher order functions.
Anyone reading this post and seeing anything controversial I think is reading too much into it. It pretty much boils down to “having a broad understanding of programming is good.”
I have nothing against C++ or Java programmers or anyone else unless they have the mindset of “well, I know $LANGUAGE and I can get work done in it so there’s no point in me learning any other language that might make my head hurt.” A Lisp programmer who thinks they would have nothing to learn from studying assembly programming I would consider equally foolish.
I still have plenty to learn, myself.