If I could ‘cheat’ and say ‘I know every language in the world’, and that included programming languages and things like scientific notation as a language, I’d take that in a heartbeat. If not, I’d take programming, as at least then I can create things and make money.
If speaking every language included dead and forgotten languages too though, then it would be a very tough choice.
This is probably super pedantic (bloody programmers right?) but I really feel like it would depend on what is meant by “know every programming language”. Like being able to remember every syntax and construct is sort of useful but not all that practical. Understanding how to implement the language in a useful way is the valuable part, not just knowing the keywords.
I guess I would kind of compare it to the difference between being able to read Shakespeare and being able to write Shakespeare,
If we’re being pedantic, in The Matrix, Neo says ‘I know kung fu’ to explain that he both knows what all the moves are, and how to use them. As that was the topic of the post, I used the same sentence structure to mean the same thing about all languages, including programming 😉
If I could ‘cheat’ and say ‘I know every language in the world’, and that included programming languages and things like scientific notation as a language, I’d take that in a heartbeat. If not, I’d take programming, as at least then I can create things and make money.
If speaking every language included dead and forgotten languages too though, then it would be a very tough choice.
This is probably super pedantic (bloody programmers right?) but I really feel like it would depend on what is meant by “know every programming language”. Like being able to remember every syntax and construct is sort of useful but not all that practical. Understanding how to implement the language in a useful way is the valuable part, not just knowing the keywords.
I guess I would kind of compare it to the difference between being able to read Shakespeare and being able to write Shakespeare,
Correct. Learning a programming language is trivial. Far easier than a foreign language.
If we think of it in terms of learning a language, what matters is the grammar and ability to use it to struct prose to create a coherent story.
There’s also a lot of reuse which requires knowing what’s available. The closest analogy there is how music sampling is used.
If we’re being pedantic, in The Matrix, Neo says ‘I know kung fu’ to explain that he both knows what all the moves are, and how to use them. As that was the topic of the post, I used the same sentence structure to mean the same thing about all languages, including programming 😉
Since we are being pedantic, I think maybe you mean “apply” not implement?