[Coco] Perl PL for OS/9

[Aaron Wolfe]

On Mon, Aug 31, 2009 at 7:48 AM, Steven Hirsch<snhirsch at gmail.com> wrote:
> On Mon, 31 Aug 2009, TP Reitzel wrote:
>
>> I ONLY have time to learn ONE language now and into the foreseeable
>> future. TIA
>
> Alan Turing established that there IS only one language for computing
> machinery.  The rest is all syntax variations :-).
>
> Seriously if you spend some of that valuable time studying the formalisms of
> computer science you'll quickly realize that languages all look much the
> same at a certain level.
>
> <editorial>
>
> This is why I'm so amused when I see HR-authored job descriptions that
> stress "N years of experience in Turbo-Foobar, Java, you-name-it" rather
> than simply looking for those with a grounding in the principles of
> computation and language translators.
>
> If you learn Perl, you'll hopefully be able to find work as a Perl
> programmer.  If you learn the fundamentals (including study of
> non-traditional syntax variations like, e.g. LISP, Forth, etc.) you should
> be able to function in almost any environment after a short ramp-up.
>
> </editorial>

I've got mixed feelings about that.  Yes, a programmer who is well
versed in fundamental concepts is always better than one who is not.
However, modern programming environments are much more complex than
the ones taught when I was in school.  The difference between c,
pascal, and fortan are minor compared to Java vs asp.net vs lamp, etc.
 Mastery of these environments takes much more than an understanding
of core concepts, mainly because a modern programmer is going to use a
lot of complicated libraries all with their own nuances.  Knowing the
strengths and weaknesses of all the various parts (and how to use
these in real world situations) takes time and real world experience.
The ideal candidate will have both strong fundamental skills *and*
language specific experience :)