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General Discussion

Posted by Abdullah Mohamed
Abdullah Mohamed
17,323 Points

Is it common for developers to know several languages in the same category?

Is it common for developers to know many languages in the same category like JAVA and Ruby ? Or is it a bad thing?

3 Answers

Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,149 Points
Kevin Korte
Kevin Korte
28,149 Points

Pretty common I think. Many are probably better at one or two than the others, but it's good to be very well versered. The bonus is that many of the languages share the same concepts, so once you get the concepts down, for the most part it stays consistent, and all you have to worry about is the syntax, which can be looked up easy enough in the language's docs.

Abdullah Mohamed
Abdullah Mohamed
17,323 Points

Thanks Kevin

Marcus Lind
Marcus Lind
4,363 Points
Marcus Lind
Marcus Lind
4,363 Points

If you already know an object oriented programming language, the others are usually quite similar. For example, if you already know PHP it's not that difficult to learn Python or Ruby. Sure there are some differences, but programming in general is mostly about thinking and problem solving. The thought process between many different languages are the same.

I can see no downside with knowing multiple languages. Personally I've programmed in multiple languages and I believe it gives me a much better toolbox, but also understanding, of programming and web development. You also get to appreciate the "good" things about certain languages.

So go ahead... Keep learning. It will not hurt your career in any way.

Marcus Lind
Marcus Lind
4,363 Points
Marcus Lind
Marcus Lind
4,363 Points

If you already know an object oriented programming language, the others are usually quite similar. For example, if you already know PHP it's not that difficult to learn Python or Ruby. Sure there are some differences, but programming in general is mostly about thinking and problem solving. The thought process between many different languages are the same.

I can see no downside with knowing multiple languages. Personally I've programmed in multiple languages and I believe it gives me a much better toolbox, but also understanding, of programming and web development. You also get to appreciate the "good" things about certain languages.

So go ahead... Keep learning. It will not hurt your career in any way.