English Amiga Board - View Single Post - Is programming now much different than during the Amiga Era

Photon · 27 June 2010, 11:56

The main difference in these last 20 years is that the hardware is about half a million times faster, and that the experience of using a computer is about the same, and at about the same pace as far as the user is concerned.

As for languages evolving, well, the world settled on C in about 1990. After all, it was the best high level language. When OOLs came back in style, it only took a few years to create the logical upgrade path, C++, and most programmers who had already adapted their brain to C had no problems adapting to an even more lucid language. They were glad someone had finally "done it right" in the OOP domain and solved all the tiny flaws in C in a beautiful way.

OK, I'll stop now

Anyway, you obviously ask here because you value fellow Amiga programmer's advice, but if you intend learning a language to have programming as a job, there really are only two options, Java and C++. You rarely see want ads for any other type of programmers.

But I always think the root cause of the bias toward just a few languages is that not enough programmers just try all the languages and choose the one they fall in love with. So if you don't intend to code for a living, that's my recommendation.

There are a few suggestions I can make apart from the above two,
- Python. Try it. It's easy, powerful, portable, has Torque etc for 3D if that's your thing, and you can get experiments going fast.
- Javascript. With Sencha Touch, there's your chance to dev apps for mobile and desktop in a jiffy. Personally, I think it will explode onto the scene.
- ARM assembler. It's a beautiful CPU, and programmers are still needed for embedded applications.

Today though, languages get less and less important as programmers get less and less code to write that could have any kind of IP attached to it. It's mostly API programming within tightly predefined classes. Writing a few lines here and there in autogenerated templates and using components made by big corporations doesn't really leave much need for a programmer at all.

So if you just want to 'make programs', choose 'platform' (ie. cluster of APIs) that you hate the least, and go with whatever language they support that you hate the least.

But if you want to be a PROGRAMMER, choose the language you like most and let nobody tell you what the 'hip' one is. They'll be wrong in a year or two.

27 June 2010, 11:56	#13
Photon Moderator Join Date: Nov 2004 Location: Eksjö / Sweden Posts: 5,629	The main difference in these last 20 years is that the hardware is about half a million times faster, and that the experience of using a computer is about the same, and at about the same pace as far as the user is concerned. As for languages evolving, well, the world settled on C in about 1990. After all, it was the best high level language. When OOLs came back in style, it only took a few years to create the logical upgrade path, C++, and most programmers who had already adapted their brain to C had no problems adapting to an even more lucid language. They were glad someone had finally "done it right" in the OOP domain and solved all the tiny flaws in C in a beautiful way. OK, I'll stop now Anyway, you obviously ask here because you value fellow Amiga programmer's advice, but if you intend learning a language to have programming as a job, there really are only two options, Java and C++. You rarely see want ads for any other type of programmers. But I always think the root cause of the bias toward just a few languages is that not enough programmers just try all the languages and choose the one they fall in love with. So if you don't intend to code for a living, that's my recommendation. There are a few suggestions I can make apart from the above two, - Python. Try it. It's easy, powerful, portable, has Torque etc for 3D if that's your thing, and you can get experiments going fast. - Javascript. With Sencha Touch, there's your chance to dev apps for mobile and desktop in a jiffy. Personally, I think it will explode onto the scene. - ARM assembler. It's a beautiful CPU, and programmers are still needed for embedded applications. Today though, languages get less and less important as programmers get less and less code to write that could have any kind of IP attached to it. It's mostly API programming within tightly predefined classes. Writing a few lines here and there in autogenerated templates and using components made by big corporations doesn't really leave much need for a programmer at all. So if you just want to 'make programs', choose 'platform' (ie. cluster of APIs) that you hate the least, and go with whatever language they support that you hate the least. But if you want to be a PROGRAMMER, choose the language you like most and let nobody tell you what the 'hip' one is. They'll be wrong in a year or two.