Computer Science Canada

Language choice and your reasoning behind it

Author:  wtd [ Fri Dec 19, 2008 6:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Language choice and your reasoning behind it

I'm always curious about these things, so let us know which programming language you chose, and why.

Author:  S_Grimm [ Fri Dec 19, 2008 6:30 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

Java because I know it better than C++ and Turing.

Author:  btiffin [ Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Language choice and your reasoning behind it

First choice; assembler. As it matches the way I think.

Second was awk, SNOBOL then Icon. Powerful and easy to code file conversions and string ops make me happy. So this entry also includes a plethora of shells; DCL, sh, JCL...

Third was COBOL; Got the book, had to; code is easy to explain to pointy haired boss. Happy phboss, happy cubicleBert.

Fourth; Forth. Curiosity led to a 20 year gig. First, last and only totally immersive software development environment.

Fifth was C; Wanted to compile free stuff for the Vax, needed C; compiled a free C compiler, amazed the boss, and C amazed me in the breadth and depth of support and sheer volume of development applications.

Sixth; REBOL. Come ON! You gotta. Smile Really.

Seveth; All the others; Worth exploring, each and every one.

Given that; I'll probably hit the grave off by one and with expertise (the 10,000 hours kind, not particularly the "oh what a knowledgeable wise person" kind) in Forth, C, Programming Languages and hopefully REBOL and maybe COBOL. And, so you know, by expertise, I mean the "gee, I don't know squat" kind of wisdom. Wink

Cheers

Author:  syntax_error [ Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:29 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

Java, shear size of library.Massive. Serly.

May change after I try coding in python, who knows?

Author:  wtd [ Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:29 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

Well, I was specifically discussing choice of languages for the DWITE contest. Of the languages you mention, btiffin, only C is supported for DWITE. Smile

Author:  btiffin [ Fri Dec 19, 2008 8:31 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

Ooops; old guy bad. Should read the forum channel and not just the sidebar.

Excuse the interruption folks.

Cheers

Author:  DanielG [ Sat Dec 20, 2008 10:42 am ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

I use a combination of turing and C++, mostly turing, but if a problem requires some sorting or dfs or anything that the built in containers/stl algorithm library can help with than I use C++

Author:  A.J [ Sat Dec 20, 2008 6:59 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Language choice and your reasoning behind it

I mainly use turing for dwite, as I am much faster with it. But I also code in C++ (for contests like USACO, most of CCC, etc...)

Author:  Clayton [ Sat Dec 20, 2008 7:02 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

If I were actually eligible to participate, I would be using Ruby... I find it's just very natural to write code, and makes debugging a bit easier for me because I can read exactly what's going on as though it were plain English.

Author:  Insectoid [ Sat Dec 20, 2008 7:05 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

Well, Turing I have pretty well mastered. Don't even have to think about the syntax (which is good in a contest environment). As my comfort with other languages increases though this may change.

Author:  chili5 [ Sat Dec 20, 2008 8:28 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

I like Java because of it's vast library. It's the only language that I've really focused on, but it is really great! Fairly simple for me to learn new concepts, and it works well for me in the contests. Smile

Author:  saltpro15 [ Fri Jan 16, 2009 8:35 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

this is borderline necroing, but I definitely like using Turing JUST FOR DWITE, the CCC is written in C++ for me, I'm only in gr10 so I know next to no Java, perhaps next year I will use it, its an OOP language correct?

Author:  chili5 [ Sat Jan 17, 2009 4:49 am ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

Yes Java is an OO language. If you use C++, then Java shouldn't be all that difficult for you. Very Happy

Author:  nike52 [ Sat Jan 17, 2009 1:35 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Language choice and your reasoning behind it

http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=features&d2=020807
Roughly three quarters of TopCoder competitors use C++ in the arena.

Author:  wtd [ Sat Jan 17, 2009 5:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Language choice and your reasoning behind it

nike52 @ Sun Jan 18, 2009 2:35 am wrote:
http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=features&d2=020807
Roughly three quarters of TopCoder competitors use C++ in the arena.


Keep in mind that TopCoder does not provide a great deal of choice. C++ may win the popularity contest there, but it only had to compete against three other languages that are all fundamentally (almost) the same conceptually, and even syntactically very similar (with the exception of VB).

Author:  Analysis Mode [ Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:44 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Language choice and your reasoning behind it

oh I prefer Brain**ck, actaully, but I use C++ because:

1) Tony hasn't added it to DWITE.
2) I know it pretty well (even though I just started last September)
3) STL's, extensive libraries.

i don't like java because of things like (Public Buffered Reader Open Object Class Private) lol. even though tthat made no sense.

Author:  saltpro15 [ Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:48 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

I don't like Java either, it's just too bulky of a language for my liking. C++ is my favourite, I have never tried Brainf*ck, that's an awesome name though Very Happy where can I download it?

Author:  Analysis Mode [ Sun Mar 01, 2009 4:58 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Language choice and your reasoning behind it

IT's also the best language in the world too, you're only allowed to use 8 characters.

http://www.spoj.pl/problems/SORTING/

dunno where, you should google it Razz

Author:  saltpro15 [ Sun Mar 01, 2009 5:01 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

whoa that's intense! i am definitely looking into this, is it more similar to Turing or C++ in terms of compiling?

Author:  chunnn_li [ Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:06 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

I use Java personally
First language I learned, and I am most familar with it. Personally I feel sticking to one language rather than learning a myraid of languages is better, although your opinion may vary. I know some C++, although if I had to write a computer contest in it I'd probably fail hard.

Author:  Tony [ Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:12 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

chunnn_li @ Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:06 pm wrote:
Personally I feel sticking to one language rather than learning a myraid of languages is better...

That's right, that's exactly why the only tool I have in my toolbox is a hammer. Sure, every carpentry problem is beginning to look like nails, _but_ I'm just so good with it! Very Happy

Author:  chunnn_li [ Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

Tony @ Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:12 pm wrote:
chunnn_li @ Tue Jan 18, 2011 8:06 pm wrote:
Personally I feel sticking to one language rather than learning a myraid of languages is better...

That's right, that's exactly why the only tool I have in my toolbox is a hammer. Sure, every carpentry problem is beginning to look like nails, _but_ I'm just so good with it! Very Happy


lol. Well, maybe I should restate that. Although I do feel sticking to one language is better, I do think there is a point where once you get deep enough into a language, that it's disadvantages at certain problems become obvious. Then, it's time to learn another language or two. The thing i'm trying to avoid is learning a bunch of languages, and not being good at programming because all I know are a bunch of languages, rather than algorithms and proper logic. I think i'll go to maybe python or even Haskall/FORTRAN, since their so much more different.

Author:  Insectoid [ Tue Jan 18, 2011 10:17 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

FORTRAN is useless (biased opinion here) and Haskell will melt your mind. Lacking a mind already, Haskell is a worthy challenge for me.

Author:  yoursecretninja [ Wed Jan 19, 2011 6:49 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

I regularly use a number of programming/scripting and markup languages for a variety of different reasons.

At work I use (in order of frequency) PHP, JavaScript, HTML/CSS, and XML because as you may have guessed from that list I'm a web developer.

At home I use Objective-C (and a bit of C) as I'm a hobbyist iOS developer and have released a few apps. I've also been moving away from PHP in favour of Ruby for my personal web projects.

At school I use Java and C for course work. I wish I didn't have to use Java at all. Fortunately, the vast majority of my course work this year has been in C.

Author:  mirhagk [ Thu Jan 20, 2011 3:07 pm ]
Post subject:  RE:Language choice and your reasoning behind it

on this brainf**k thing.... It's amazing.... I would've only suggested 2 more commands, not that they are needed, but they would be useful. instuctionptr= *dataptr and *dataptr=instruction ptr.
It means you could create functions by storing the ptr to the start of the function in an array, then bumping the instruction ptr into some data point, then setting the instruction pointer to the function start, then after the function is done, setting it to the value in the data pointer


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