10 Programming Languages You Should Learn Right Now

seaeagle

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Knowing a handful of programming languages is seen by many as a harbor in a job market storm, solid skills that will be marketable as long as the languages are.

Yet, there is beauty in numbers. While there may be developers who have had riches heaped on them by knowing the right programming language at the right time in the right place, most longtime coders will tell you that periodically learning a new language is an essential part of being a good and successful Web developer.

"One of my mentors once told me that a programming language is just a programming language. It doesn't matter if you're a good programmer, it's the syntax that matters," Tim Huckaby, CEO of San Diego-based software engineering company CEO Interknowlogy.com, told eWEEK.

However, Huckaby said that while his company is "swimming" in work, he's having a nearly impossible time finding recruits, even on the entry level, that know specific programming languages.

"We're hiring like crazy, but we're not having an easy time. We're just looking for attitude and aptitude, kids right out of school that know .Net, or even Java, because with that we can train them on .Net," said Huckaby.

"Don't get fixated on one or two languages. When I started in 1969, FORTRAN, COBOL and S/360 Assembler were the big tickets. Today, Java, C and Visual Basic are. In 10 years time, some new set of languages will be the 'in thing.' …At last count, I knew/have learned over 24 different languages in over 30 years," Wayne Duqaine, director of Software Development at Grandview Systems, of Sebastopol, Calif., told eWEEK.

By picking the brains of Web developers and IT recruiters, eWEEK selected 10 programming languages that are a bonus for developers to add to their resumes. Even better, they're great jumping-off points, with loads of job opportunities for younger recruits. (continued)

dejai · Joined: Apr 17, 2008 Posts: 6

Comparing languages is a stupid time wasting discussion that would require thousands of developers from across all applications to come up with an un bias result which still would be unsatisfactory. Programming languages are made for a purpose/ application.

If you want to learn system programming you will need a grounding in C /C++ and probably some assembly if you wish to go onto kernel hacking.

One point I strongly agree with from Teach Yourself Programming in Ten Years (http://norvig.com/21-days.html) is:

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Learn at least a half dozen programming languages. Include one language that supports class abstractions (like Java or C++), one that supports functional abstraction (like Lisp or ML), one that supports syntactic abstraction (like Lisp), one that supports declarative specifications (like Prolog or C++ templates), one that supports coroutines (like Icon or Scheme), and one that supports parallelism (like Sisal).

Thats my opinion.

Also adding to this.. I am disturbed at the quote.. its the syntax that matters I argue its the semantics that matter if you don't have the semantics the program wont fit the application!!!!!!!