Micah on March 29th, 2009

They say you should learn a new programming language every year.  I don’t necessarily agree, but it’s happening this year for me with R.  Here are the steps I have found over the years to make it go smoothly. If you’re a perl, C++, or Java zealot, it’s been nice knowing you…

Continue reading about How to Choose and Learn a New Programming Language

Micah on March 9th, 2009

It’s quite an investment to pick up a new programming language (syntax, semantics, types), along with all its periphery: tools, libraries, interfaces, environment, documentation, culture, user groups, history, idioms, and quirks.  I’m not trying to force myself to learn a new language every year, though looking back it’s pretty much turned out that way.  I [...]

Continue reading about Considering R as a Python Supplement

Micah on June 4th, 2008

These are the languages that I consider interesting* today. I’ve included their approximate year of first release. Also, a look at the importance of support for concurrency. As you can see, these fit into a surprisingly small time window, which I’ll call the Golden Age.** I wanted to make it a round decade, but had [...]

Continue reading about 1983-96: The Golden Age of Programming Languages