[Cialug] Hello and can I get some recommendations

[Matthew Nuzum]

On Mon, Apr 11, 2011 at 10:18 PM, Eric Junker <eric at eric.nu> wrote:

> As much as I love Python, Ruby and PHP I would have to say that that vast
> majority of programming jobs are going to be in Java or .NET. So if your
> goal is to be able to easily find a job you may want to consider Java or
> .NET. I honestly haven't seen that many Python or Ruby open positions,
> especially in Iowa.
>
>
A problem with this argument for Java and .Net is that many of these jobs
require someone with an undergraduate degree in computer science. The nice
thing about the open source languages is that freelance work abounds. Please
correct me if I'm wrong.

C# is an awesome language. Not my first choice for Linux work, but a great
language to develop in. Also, the Visual Studio Express environment is an
excellent tool.

However, I think learning C# and Java have a higher barrier to entry than
the other three mentioned. The reason is because you have to understand the
data types and you also must use object oriented principals right off the
bat. Both are good things to learn but I think the procedural style of
programming is easier to grasp at first. Similarly, I wouldn't teach someone
TDD on their first day writing a program, no matter how awesome it would be
for a person to develop that as a habit early on.

I think people learn better when it's fun and producing working code and
seeing your ideas come to shape is one of the most fun things about
programming.

On that same note, to respond to j.bengtson, an IDE is one more thing to
learn. The Python console, irb or http://tryruby.org/ and firebug are
awesome tools to making writing code simpler. I've never seen a _simple_ ide
and one of the chief principles of making software easier to use is to
reduce the interface as much as possible. Eclipse is very likely one of the
worst tools I've ever used in the context of "pleasant and inviting user
interfaces."

And, to open one more can of flames, I don't suggest PHP any more because
the amount of bad documentation on the web and in print is astounding. You
will very likely have to unlearn bad habits in order to write code that is
not trivially hacked. You can write good php apps but, like C, one of PHP's
"features" is that it is happy to give programmers the ability to
resoundingly shoot themselves in the foot and it takes careful effort to
avoid doing so. It's just not as fun learning when there's warning labels
attached to everything. The way to get around this is to start out with a
PHP framework that has a good track record for taking security seriously. (I
suggest Wordpress for that)

-- 
Matthew Nuzum
newz2000 on freenode, skype, linkedin and twitter

"My aim has always been to get to the truth rather than to support some
position. And in criticizing others, I have always tried to understand what
their
position was and not to misrepresent it. I have never been interested in
cheap
victories." -Ronald Coase
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