What is your favorite programming language and why?

[Blank]

C

That simple.  It's probably because I have so much power at the low level or that I'm the most familar with it, though I suppose this question vastly depends on what you're working on.  But in general, C.

Python and Java are the runners up.  I like Java because it enforces OOP and Python because its so... EASY!  Fell in love with Python the moment I started looking over the tutorial.

[MHaji]

Lisp, Scheme dialect. I'm a biologist, not a programmer, and man does programming in Lisp remind me of biology. Building your tools from the ground up in a system that lets you "evolve" programs, in a way, is neat.

Of course, you could argue that Perl is more bio-ish, with its improvised, hacky, absolutely pragmatic nature, and it's pretty cool, too.

[Oniya]

(Not my work, but it seemed appropriate - and filk is sort of public domain, or at least GNU licensed.)

When I find my code in tons of trouble,
Friends and colleagues come to me,
Speaking words of wisdom:
"Write in C."

As the deadline fast approaches,
And bugs are all that I can see,
Somewhere, someone whispers:
"Write in C."

Write in C, Write in C,
Write in C, oh, Write in C.
LOGO's dead and buried,
Write in C.

I used to write a lot of FORTRAN,
For science it worked flawlessly.
Try using it for graphics!
Write in C.

If you've just spent nearly 30 hours
Debugging some assembly,
Soon you will be glad to
Write in C.

Write in C, Write in C,
Write in C, yeah, Write in C.
Only wimps use BASIC.
Write in C.

Write in C, Write in C
Write in C, oh, Write in C.
Pascal won't quite cut it.
Write in C.

Write in C, Write in C,
Write in C, yeah, Write in C.
Don't even mention COBOL.
Write in C.

[Vekseid]

I have a pretty good mp3 of that.

I don't really have a favorite language. I use a hammer to pound nails, an axe to chop wood. I use C to write small things that need to be fast and most everything else goes into some sort of interpreted language - Labview, Python, PHP, Javascript, Perl, SQL, etc.

I'm dealing mostly with web technologies lately, which means I either work with what the web runs on (C) or the suite built on its back - SQL, Python, PHP, and Javascript. I've used C++ and Java, of course, just not nearly so much.

Hard for me to pick a favorite, really. Probably Python, even though much of my work lately has been C + SQL + PHP + Javascript.

[Blank]

Lisp... Haven't learned that one yet.  Will soon though.  Heard great things about it though.  Though I'm surprised that a biologist is using lisp.  Maybe I guess I don't know enough about biologists to know how often the use programming languages.

XP That song seems a bit out dated now.  But still lol worthy.

Vek, even by looking at the languages you use, I can tell you are probably are into web technologies.  Javascript was a big tip. =3  Everyone and their dog on the net uses javascript.  Also PHP and such.  =3  Cool beans.

[Oniya]

I think the filk dates back to the mid eighties?  There are reportedly other verses out there, as filk tends to mutate.

[MHaji]

I learned Lisp as a teaching exercise, though it is pretty popular with AI people and a few neurobiologists. In practice, I've used Perl.

[Avis habilis]

I'll probably get scoffed at, but I found VBScript/VBA was a really handy thing to know. I cut my teeth on ASP2 & branched out from there into Office applications & the transition was nearly seamless. I've learned some Java, but the lowest-level language I ever learned was C++. Nowadays I work entirely in PHP/JavaScript.

[eon]

Yeah, I was taught VB and VBA - got an A grade in Computing A level.  :) I'm in the middle of teaching myself C++ as its used for a lot of physics simulation software. I'm not very good with it though...

[Apple of Eris]

I only write in binary and machine code. I'm hardcore like that.

[Vekseid]

Of course, I'm sure it compiles, Apple, but does it run? : )

I've used, in rough order of my learning them:

Basic, Pascal, C++, C, Assembly (x86), Visual Basic, VBA, Delphi, Machine Code (x86), Perl, Javascript, Labview, Assembly (68k), Python, SQL, PHP...

I've probably missed a few.

But yeah. I do think we haven't seen the beginning of the web technology sphere yet. Most of the functionality you see now - from here to Facebook - is primitive in terms of what is actually possible, as well as its quality of construction.

[Avis habilis]

I did a bit of Pascal in high school. The teacher said he picked that language because he wanted to teach us something you couldn't write a game in. So I wrote a text-based adventure game. (Nyah!)

I do think we haven't seen the beginning of the web technology sphere yet. Most of the functionality you see now - from here to Facebook - is primitive in terms of what is actually possible, as well as its quality of construction.

Honestly, now that I've been working in IT for a few years & know how the web works, I'm often surprised that it does.

[Oniya]

If you can write a game in a low-level language like BASIC, then using a higher-level language like PASCAL makes it a piece of cake. 

[eon]

You say that... I tried to make a game in VB once, and it took me forever, and never worked... *grins sheepishly* I'm not the greatest programmer in the world. lol

[Vekseid]

I did a bit of Pascal in high school. The teacher said he picked that language because he wanted to teach us something you couldn't write a game in. So I wrote a text-based adventure game. (Nyah!)

Fully half of BBS Door games were written in Pascal because one man (Scott Baker of Land of Devastation) released a library for it for free.

[Avis habilis]

Fully half of BBS Door games were written in Pascal because one man (Scott Baker of Land of Devastation) released a library for it for free.

Door games? I'm afraid I was late to life on line & missed the BBS era entirely.

[Vekseid]

Well, okay. We have the forums here, as you can see. BBSes were not so terribly different from them. Especially if you browse using ;wap2 and don't use your mouse.

Anyway, BBS packages did not come with games, so, in order to play games, you had to interfact with someone else's program - the game. In order to link between them, you had to execute this external program - a BBS door, and store a configuration file the BBS could understand - a door file (for saved games, generally).

Scott Baker wrote, in Pascal, the entire networking library needed to create a BBS Door program. Was used by an insane number of people and responsible for a few small fortunes in door game registrations.

[Oniya]

*fondly remembers door games*

[Apple of Eris]

I remember Telnet!

[Vekseid]

I'm sometimes tempted to host a semi-public nethack server on Elliquiy >_>

[Avis habilis]

So for the full effect, I ought to be using Lynx?

[Vekseid]

If you keep your fingers off the arrow keys.

Basically it was entirely menu driven, characters would send commands, etc.

[Blank]

Sounds like we have some hardcore programmers here.  =3  Alright what's your favorite text editor?

Emacs here.  O8)

[Avis habilis]

I've used vi enough to know I'd be happy not to use it. There may not be many advantages to working mostly in a Windows environment, but at least Notepad is easy. Then again, I use Notepad++ more often these days.

[Oniya]

Notepad's good enough.  None of this lame WYSIWYG for me ;)

[Avis habilis]

My sloth overcomes my pride often enough that I'll go for something with code completion.  :-[

[Oniya]

Eh, I just get into habits.  I've found myself typing BBCode into instant messengers by accident. :-[  Luckily, the other person understood what I meant.

[eon]

I code my HTML in notepad; when I can be bothered to. Usually I just use Dreamweaver! Lolz

I use Visual Basic Studio for VB stuff, and Visual C++ for well... C++. haha

[Blank]

I always found that I hated Visual Studio.  I always have to cook up some sort of modification to make the thing do what I want.

[crystaltears]

As to favorite language - I think APL, and to that end...

    There are three things a man must do
    Before his life is done;
    Write two lines in APL,
    And make the buggers run.
                     - I believe that gets attributed to Stan Kelly-Bootle.

Now as to why, because it was my first programming language in which the only thing worth mentioning that I ever wrote was probably a console Blackjack application.

I'm more familiar with Java, C++, and C# these days. Find that I like Java the most of the three (okay really two languages since C# is just C with a VB drag-and-drop setup), but know it's because I don't have a strong mastery of C yet... Getting there...



Favorite Text Editor - Notepad works just fine for me.

[Tachi]

I only know html, CSS, and BBC coding.

[Doomsday]

I changed my major from Programming to Journalism, as I'm sick of it, but I really enjoyed Java and C++ during my short 3 years learning the stuff.

[grdell]

SQL (esp. DDL over DML), PL/SQL.

Only because it has to do with my job (I'm a database engineer). I use it every day, whether I want to or not, so I'm most familiar with it.

If I have to write actual "programs" though, I use Java. I find it much less cumbersome than C++, but also less atomic-bomb-scale powerful. But it lets me write GUIs without tearing what hair I have left out.

[Mint]

Pascal. Because it's just so so.... retro. >>; And infinite loops. Come on. Seriously.  xD

[Avis habilis]

SQL (esp. DDL over DML), PL/SQL.

Just out of curiosity - do any stored procedures?

[apocryphan]

I love python! My applications are never resource-intensive so the easy debugging and quick development time is a godsend for me. Anything more complex, and I make the interns do it, lol

[Oniya]

Pascal. Because it's just so so.... retro. >>; And infinite loops. Come on. Seriously.  xD

Pascal:

Please
Add
Semi-
Colons
After
Lines.

[Arazel Eternal]

I like using C#.  I have used C++ as well, which is very nice when you need to do low level programming with the hardware or inline assembly code.  Though none of the programming I do now involves low level hardware access so thats why I use C#.  It is geared towards Windows programming and also website programming.