I liked the OCaml website
I learned lolcode in college because we had to write a sorting algorithm in assembly and “any other programming language.”
I was trying to rank up in Codewars, and there was a 1kyu (hardest and worth the most points) kata only available in OCaml, so I learned it in order to solve.
Needed to write a syntax highlighter for VB.Net but I couldn’t find any weirdly written edge cases online, so I had to make some myself.
To have an easier time with another language (which the first language’s valid syntax is a superset of) which it papers over the faults of. And usually it’s pretty thin paper.
C and C++?
To understand memes
I learned bash instead of python because my 8 year old brain saw all the parentheses and thought “ew no”…
Experienced me sees a language where parentheses are optional and I think “ew no”
Arduino and Python to create a sexy machine that syncs up to videos. Oh I also made the sex machine part, like machining metal parts and soldering electronics.
please tell me you created a
dickobject for the project which is exactly the same as adictobject.error: dict not found. Were you looking for dick?
I was playing this really simple mobile phone game, where you basically go on these mining trips, then you tap the screen as quickly as possible. So, I thought to myself, I wonder if there’s a way to simulate screen taps, to tap at superhuman speeds.
I found an app for that, this app had its own scripting language. Admittedly, there weren’t many concepts to learn in this language, but wait, there’s more.
Then I thought, maybe I can also automate the menus, between the mining trips.
But this language didn’t have support for multiple files, nor functions, you couldn’t even use labels in your goto statements, meaning my code started to get quite complicated.So, I actually sort of implemented support for goto labels / shitty functions within my program.
Basically, at the start of the file, I had an if-else block, which read the value of a variable and based on that, it would select between different goto statements.
So, if I wanted to “call a function”, I would set the variable to the function/label name and thengoto 0.If I remember correctly, I did still need to manually update the line numbers in that lookup table at the start, but at least, I didn’t have to do it everywhere in the code anymore.
And yes, I did manage to completely automate grinding that game, using this shitty scripting language.
It was an offline game, and not a good one, I didn’t actually care about making progress in it. But scripting it was significantly more fun than playing it myself.There’s a game called something like “oh no the farmer is gone” which is about programming a little robot to harvest the fields and the programming is built directly into the game
Not really a dumb reason, but back in the day I was stuck in the WordPress developer loop and tired of it. I was pretty familiar with a handful of languages, but wasn’t doing much more than setting up themes and building out pages with builders.
One day I heard the CTO talking about a tool he would love to have but couldn’t find anything that worked how he needed it to. The CTO was a big buzzword guy and recently shared an article with my manager at the time about how C++ was “the best language”. So naturally I chimed in and told him I could build that tool easy peasy and I would use C++ obviously because it’s the best language.
It was such a simple tool, basically just matching phrases and categories and spitting out a list of options. It took me months to make, but I learned a lot and it kind of worked for the most part and everyone was happy. I eventually got a de-facto department in the company where I would just build internal tools and handle some legacy codebases that they were previously outsourcing.
I later on got my current job because of that leap.
TLDR: I learned C++ because I was bored and lied that I already knew it.
I learned Go because I really liked the keyword go
This feels like me wanting to learn Hare because I like rabbits, which I bring up because someone left this reply for me and I think it applies to you too:
That is such a sweet reason! Whimsical decisions like this can be some of the best. Life demands a bit of whimsy every now and then.
Yes I think it’s really beneficial to operate by vibes sometimes lol. Trust your instincts !
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I became a Game Programmer. Job market sucks right now, so I’m cleaning toilets and taking out trash at a grocery store.
But hey, on my days off I sometimes have time to work on games.
I wanted to get into creating video games.
I ended up in software engineering for financial companies. It killed my hobby love of programming but the salary is worth it. Exceptionally lucrative, and I have never struggled for work, with great pay, bonus, benefits, equity
I, as a teacher, have had to learn several languages, but that’s not the dumb reason bit. The dumb reason bit was WHY I had to teach Python, which once I learnt it (so I cold teach it) I could see right away was NOT a suitable language for teaching to Year 7 (who up to now have only used Scratch). I was teaching the U.K. curriculum, and I found out that teaching C# was also allowed - still not ideal, but better than Python for learners -but pretty much all schools were teaching Python. When I dug into it I found I was far from alone in not wanting to use Python… and I also found out the reason schools were teaching Python. It was because from an ADMINISTRATIVE point of view it was much easier for the schools to have us teaching Python. In other words, the office-workers who didn’t have to teach it, only had to admin it, were forcing everyone to teach Python because they wanted the lower overhead that came with installing/maintaining that vs. C#. ARGH! All the teachers who wanted to teach C# were running into exactly the same road-block.
I’ve always seriously questioned why python has become the defacto beginner language. Sure, a simple print hello world is short, but I feel like static languages are easier to see what’s going on.
Well, I’m only speaking here for my experience with teaching the U.K. curriculum, but probably the same thing applies elsewhere. I know this much - as a teacher, it’s very frustrating!
I’m curious why you think Python is unsuitable. Both of my kids picked up Python pretty easily.
- object-oriented (this is their FIRST proper programming language - they don’t even know how to write loops yet and you want us to teach them OOP at the same time?! And as it turns out, I had one student who literally could NOT work out how to use a loop - kept writing 20 variables for 20 iterations. i.e. her variables never varied!)
- variables are weakly-typed (use it for anything, whether it’s what you first used it for or not, Python doesn’t care)
- indentation has to be exact (i.e. no brackets, just exact indentation). I had one student whose program wasn’t working, and it even took ME a while to find what was wrong with it (a missing space).
I think there was more, but that’s what I remember off the top of my head. If it was up to me then I would’ve used Pascal - that’s what it’s designed for! But at least C# has strongly-typed variables, and doesn’t care about your indentation (and unfortunately there was no non-OOP language choice available - I’m not sure how this got in the curriculum when every teacher knows you only teach one concept at a time). As I said, many other teachers felt the same way, but couldn’t get it past their school admin’s.
Why do you even have to mention OOP? C# is object oriented too. Would you start explaining OOP too when teaching C#?
Python is comparatively easier as it’s nearly literally pseudo-code. There’s no need to even write a main function or functions at all. It uses less characters too e.g no need for semi-colon, brackets in for loops and if statements
As for indentation being exact, IMO that’s on you. Beginners should be given a proper development environment to work in that helps them as much as possible. Modern editors and IDEs point out syntax errors and indentation errors are incredibly basic. If they are working in an environment that doesn’t even point that out to them, they have been setup incorrectly.
object oriented
Python does have OOP but you are not at all forced to use it. You can write code in a functional or even procedural style.
typing
I do hate that python doesent have proper support for typing but I think weakly typed variables will actually help beginners as it is less to think about to start off with.
indentation
I think there are pros and cons here. In other languages it is considered good style to use indentation anyway.
I’m sure it is difficult to teach a large class like that though. It was hard enough for me to learn with a much more favourable teacher to student ratio than you probably have. Sorry but honestly I do sympathise with admin as well.
It’s odd to me that you’re disagreeing with their actual experience teaching.
Thanks. It’s a very 21st Century phenomenon that I’ve unfortunately run into many times
Lots of us have the experience of being the kid in that situation though. I learnt python in secondary school.
They’ve been through the other side of this experience multiple times though.
have the experience of being the kid in that situation
Which kid? The gifted one, the one who didn’t understand loops and used 20 variables for 20 iterations, the one who didn’t understand how to write pseudo code, the one who was dyslexic,…?
I learnt python in secondary school
Which Year? I didn’t say it wasn’t appropriate for high school, I said it wasn’t appropriate for Year 7 as a first programming language.
Lots of us
Also, who do you mean by “us”? Programmers? Not all the kids in class want to be programmers, and this isn’t a programming class - it’s Computer Science. We cover topics like hardware, the Internet, Cybersecurity, the history of computers, data analytics, etc. Not only do not all of them want to be programmers, not even all of them want to be in I.T. - they’re just, you know, interested in computers (or in some cases they’re in the course because their parents think they should be in it - I’ve had a couple of those students). We only spend 6 weeks on programming (we spend 6 weeks on each topic), or sometimes we might do it twice and spend 12 weeks on it, and that’s it for the year! You can’t teach Year 7 kids algorithms, pseudo code, basic programming concepts (variables, branches, and loops) and OOP as well in one year. Especially when not even all of them are interested in programming. It’s just one topic we cover. OOP is something that shouldn’t be covered until at least Year 8, preferably Year 9 (by which stage students have decided if they want to continue on this path or not, and the ones we still have left we start getting more hard-core… which is where the “us” I presume you’re referring to come in).
Python does have OOP but you are not at all forced to use it.
Not as an individual, but I’m talking about a situation precisely where the individual choices of teachers are ignored, in some cases by school admins, in some cases by faculty choices. Fortunately I also ran a computing club, in which I was autonomous with how I ran it, and I taught my computing club students C#/MAUI… but even then still saw some of the issues you run into with teaching students. e.g. I told them to install Visual Studio ready for next week, showed them where it was, what workloads to install, and then the next week one of the students had installed Blend for Visual Studio, not Visual Studio. “Look, it has Visual Studio in the name!”. (sigh)
I think weakly typed variables will actually help beginners as it is less to think about to start off with
No, that’s exactly the problem to start with. Another rule of teaching (see below for the full list I’m quoting these from) is “never let the first impression be a wrong one”. If you let students think they can use variables for anything, then you run into problems when they can’t. This is why teaching them with strong types first is better - they learn you need to be careful with how to use them, THEN maybe you can let them have some more freedom like Python allows.
In other languages it is considered good style to use indentation anyway
Yes, but in those languages it’s optional. In Python it’s mandatory, and if someone’s code isn’t working it’s far easier to spot a missing bracket than a missing space.
You can use types in Python and your tools will generate warnings
def something(a: int) -> int: return “potato”
will turn yellow in an IDE more advanced that notepad.
Most editors will also show a red line where the indentation is wrong.
Most editors
Same thing still applies - you need to get it past the school admin gatekeeper.
If you’re writing any language in like notepad, you’re going to have a bad time. I accept your point that school administration may be making questionable choices about what software is installed, but that’s not a problem unique to python.
that’s not a problem unique to python
No, but it’s a bigger problem for C# than is is for Python (though this is changing now), so all the U.K.-based schools were teaching Python, rather than the more-appropriate C#. That was my original point - that’s the dumb reason I had to learn Python, school admin’s wanted the lower overhead of the worse language.
I’m really surprised to hear that teaching C# to 7th graders is easer than teaching them python. Python was invented to teach. It looks like pseudo code. I have almost zero experience in teaching so I trust your experience. But can you elaborate a little? What makes teaching C# easier?
I just replied to someone else with the same question. Less can go wrong (but in either case a non-OOP language, like Pascal, is a much better starting point. You should only ever teach students one concept at a time).
Pascal was my first language. Self-taught. It was pretty good.
Surely an unpopular opinion lol.
Python is a great first language.
…and riding a bike is easy. Now go watch some kids who have never ridden a bike before and see how that’s working out for them.
Honestly, I taught myself JS in like 2009 as my first programming language. My high school taught Java, but I didn’t get OOP. I understand functional programming though, so after JS I taught myself Elixir, then OCaml and Haskell. I really wish I was just taught Clojure or another lisp-like in school though. Python is… okay… I need expressions in my language, though, and Python is not that.
My high school taught Java, but I didn’t get OOP
Yes, the correct sequence of events - one thing at a time, basic programming, then OOP. :-)
Python is not that.
It’s not a lot of things, which makes it poor for a teaching language.
“Gods, that’s stupid. Why is it being done this way? Have they never heard of naming conventions? Is the language really that awfully designed?”
Learns PHP to find out more.
“Yup…”
HEY! Is PHP ugly? Yes. Does it use stupid naming conventions? Also yes! But it’s an awesome language when you want to get shit done. There’s no other languages out there where you can just write some code in VIM directly on the server through SSH and immediately see your results without any further setup. No frameworks required, no packages, no imports, no buzzwords and hubub, just pure unadulterated utility.
Incorrect. Perl does the same just as well, and it’s a language that actually makes sense while also being uglier.
Because I wanted to listen to music while doing the dishes.
The Jellyfin Roku client didn’t support audio playback, so I wrote it myself… while learning Roku’s proprietary language 🙄
It occurs to me I’ve literally never tried to play my music library through Roku. I usually just cast to a speaker with my phone. Is it part of the main branch?
Yep. That code was merged and released roughly 2 years ago.
Well I thank you for your contribution regardless. Roku is all I’ve got, so it helps to have people like you annoyed enough, and knowledgable enough to contribute.
🤘 Enjoy
