Some of my favorite events are located in the south (and mid-west). One of those happens to be DevLink. When presented with the opportunity to attend I was ecstatic to immediately accept. At DevExpress we are committed in our support of developer communities and strive to add value to those that attend these great conferences. I was honored with the invitation to be part of the closing panel on being a polyglot programmer. While I tend to be fairly pragmatic when it comes to software development, there are a couple of things I truly believe (in tweet form):
Polyglot programmer = Learn 1 static lang + 1 dynamic lang + 1 functional lang via @sethjuarez at #devlink
— Mike Hostetler (@mikehostetler) August 30, 2013
Creating a silo for yourself as a developer will eventually stunt your professional growth. It is also important to note that I am not saying which languages to learn!
"Every language has a strong opinion." @sethjuarez#devlink
— Lance Hilliard (@lancehilliard) August 30, 2013
The neat thing about all programming languages is their own unique point of view. Understanding their respective points of view can strengthen and fill our knowledge and make us better as professional developers. Finally, there is always friction in learning something new. I had a tremendously difficult time with functional languages. For me it took a class in college for some of the concepts to sink in.
"Polyglot is like dating. Get past the awkward stage, and it gets better. But get through the awkward stage." - @sethjuarez#devlink
— Lance Hilliard (@lancehilliard) August 30, 2013
Lastly, I am fairly skeptical of the counsel of those that are dogmatic in their opinions:
OH: “When someone gets dogmatic…your bit should flip.” hah! + @sethjuarez
— ✪ Bob Yexley ✪ (@ryexley) August 30, 2013
The wonderful thing about our particular field is that there are many ways to do the same thing. When someone intimates that there is only one right way to do it - be skeptical.
It was definitely a great experience! I look forward to getting out more to get your distinct points of view regarding our products as well as technology in general.
If you are interested in seeing the full discussion, someone was kind enough to record the whole thing:
As always, if there are any comments and/or questions, feel free to get a hold of me!
Seth Juarez
Email: sethj@devexpress.com
Twitter: @SethJuarez