What's your favorite programming language?

[Desolate]

Hi everyone, the purpose of this thread is to share with your fellow community members your favorite programming language. Before you begin posting one-word posts, there's a twist: You must include a bit of relevant, non-arbitrary information, for example, why you chose it, its pros and cons, an example of it, etc. Please feel free to share with others your knowledge on other languages too, not just your favorite.

I'll start things off. My favorite is probably Python, due to its consistency and ease of use. Despite my novice-level towards it, it surpasses mIRC scripting by far, and I regret learning it first, it's too inconsistent. I also know PHP, and a fair bit of Perl, Python, and C.

 

[cantab]

I'm not really much of a programmer, so honestly, the only thing I use regularly is bash. It's great for automating tasks, there's so much you can do with a bit of bash scripting and the common Unix tools.

 

[FlareBlitz]

Whoa, nerdy thread is nerdy.

I like Lisp a lot, just because of the concept. It's not very functional or versatile but it's still fucking amazing.

http://xkcd.com/297/

(For those of you not in the know-how, Lisp is a language that is based around using lots of parentheses)

For practical/functional languages, I like C# and Visual Basic. C# is just amazing and VB is...so common that I can't not like it...

 

[eastamazonantidote]

Bash is great for streamlining your filesystem. Or doing cheap tricks, like deciding what movie to watch (just put all of 'em into one directory):

# shorf: SH Open Random File
#!/bin/bash
# Creates a temporary logfile of the number of matches
ls $1 > tempmatch
wc tempmatch > tempnum

# Defines the number of matches as a number
awk '{cmd = "jot -r 1 1 " $1; system(cmd);}' tempnum > temprandomnum 
awk -v dir=$1 '{i = 1;
        getline filetoopen < "tempmatch";
        while (i < $1) {
                getline filetoopen < "tempmatch";
                i = i + 1;
        };
        close ("tempmatch");
        print "Opening file " filetoopen;
        if (length(dir) > 0) then system("open " dir "/" filetoopen)
        else system("open " filetoopen);}' temprandomnum

# removes the temporary files
rm tempmatch temprandomnum tempnum

There are issues with this code, though: no funky symbols or spaces allowed in file names (can't open Bill's Folder because of the space and apostrophe). Anyone know how to fix this?

Recently I've been diving into Objective-C so I can use XCode. I like Python but I've sort of outgrown it.

 

[Desolate]

Bash is great for streamlining your filesystem. Or doing cheap tricks, like deciding what movie to watch (just put all of 'em into one directory):

# shorf: SH Open Random File
#!/bin/bash
# Creates a temporary logfile of the number of matches
ls $1 > tempmatch
wc tempmatch > tempnum

# Defines the number of matches as a number
awk '{cmd = "jot -r 1 1 " $1; system(cmd);}' tempnum > temprandomnum 
awk -v dir=$1 '{i = 1;
        getline filetoopen < "tempmatch";
        while (i < $1) {
                getline filetoopen < "tempmatch";
                i = i + 1;
        };
        close ("tempmatch");
        print "Opening file " filetoopen;
        if (length(dir) > 0) then system("open " dir "/" filetoopen)
        else system("open " filetoopen);}' temprandomnum

# removes the temporary files
rm tempmatch temprandomnum tempnum

There are issues with this code, though: no funky symbols or spaces allowed in file names (can't open Bill's Folder because of the space and apostrophe). Anyone know how to fix this?

Recently I've been diving into Objective-C so I can use XCode. I like Python but I've sort of outgrown it.

I don't know Bash, but usually weird characters are invalid because they are interpreted incorrectly. For example, when you Google a term with weird characters, such as an ampersand ("&"), it translates to its ASCII-number to avoid errors in parsing, such as it being parsed as a divider in a PHP address. This is likely incorrect, but it's just a thought...

 

[cantab]

There are issues with this code, though: no funky symbols or spaces allowed in file names (can't open Bill's Folder because of the space and apostrophe). Anyone know how to fix this?

Put the variable name in double quotes.

 

[Trax]

C or PL/SQL by choice..

The hell with GUIs.

 

[Desolate]

C or PL/SQL by choice..

The hell with GUIs.

C is nice for its functionality. I normally use it to build modules for IRCds or IRC service packages , or modifying the source.

 

[R S E FR LG]

Right now, I barely know QBasic (lol). But I'm going to start learning C++ for Computer Programming II, but I want to learn Java for the AP Computer Science exam, so that doesn't help. @_@ My Comp Prog class is slow, so that shouldn't be trouble, but how do I learn Java for the AP exam?

 

[Trax]

how do I learn Java for the AP exam?

http://download.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/ might be a good start.

You could invent yourself a small project once you've grasped the basics and do it -- for instance create a text based blackjack simulator running in the console, then once that's working try learning about Java servlets and create a server side version with graphics etc.

Of course there's always more than one way.

 

[obi]

I'm a C++ man. My ultimate goal in programming has always been to write a chatterbot / game playing AI. For that, you need speed. C++ gives me all the power and speed possible. Unfortunately, it has several annoying things that make me want to some day write my own programming language. Stupid semi-colons...

 

[UiopoiU]

I'm a C++ man. My ultimate goal in programming has always been to write a chatterbot / game playing AI. For that, you need speed. C++ gives me all the power and speed possible. Unfortunately, it has several annoying things that make me want to some day write my own programming language. Stupid semi-colons...

"In C++ it's harder to shoot yourself in the foot, but when you do, you blow off your whole leg." — Bjarne Stroustrup.

 

[Desolate]

I'm a C++ man. My ultimate goal in programming has always been to write a chatterbot / game playing AI. For that, you need speed. C++ gives me all the power and speed possible. Unfortunately, it has several annoying things that make me want to some day write my own programming language. Stupid semi-colons...

I dislike all the punctuations too, which is I why I prefer Python at times over everything else. I once wrote a semi-AI beta in mIRC script, I know what you're thinking, it was incredibly slow, I had to add a plethora of hacks to it, and mostly unreliable.

 

[cantab]

Incidentally, Python runs much faster if you use Psyco.

 

[Naraku301]

I've only done programming in Java and did some assembly programming for a microchip board.

I like Java much much better than assembly.

 

[Gamma Vector]

Ruby. I'm not much of a programmer, I'm afraid, but what little I can do is mostly with Ruby. It's very natural and speech-like, which is great for a beginner like me. I'm starting up trying to learn Python as well now, but I still prefer Ruby.

 

[Despotar]

Go Python. You can do a lot with it, it's really easy to learn.

 

[ArcanineDog]

I have heard a lot of fun stuff about Php. However I have never learned it to the fullest extent. I know a lot of friends who use it though.

 

[Nix_Hex]

I have learned the basics of many languages since junior high and my most recent is Objective-C. My latest program is featured here:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showthread.php?t=62357 (Mac OS 10.5 and up only!), with code examples here:
http://www.smogon.com/forums/showpost.php?p=2833763&postcount=258

 // pRNG.h
#import <Cocoa/Cocoa.h>
@interface pRNG : NSObject // pRNG inherits from NSObject
{
     unsigned int seed;
}
@property unsigned int seed; //this makes a setter for the variable seed

-(void) advance;
-(void) reverse;
@end

 //pRNG.m
#import "pRNG.h"

@implementation pRNG 
@synthesize seed;
-(void) advance //from the PID/IV creation guide, thanks to X-Act
{
      seed = ( 0X41C64E6D*seed + 0X6073 ) % 0X100000000;
}
-(void) reverse //from page 2 of this thread, thanks to X-Act
{
      seed = ( 0XEEB9EB65*seed + 0XA3561A1 ) % 0X100000000;
}
@end

explain what it does, folks!

 

[lordkira]

matlab or maple since those are great for data analyzing since i'm getting into NMR or MRI

 

[mingot]

explain what it does, folks!

An unnecessary mod? :P

 

[Llama]

All I know is C++, java, and Basic, and of the three I'd have to go with C++, just feels easier to write.

 

[Imran]

MATLAB does everything I want it to, and is geared for it much better than most things as far as I'm aware.

 

[crabnebula]

Has to be C. Its like a swiss army knife, its good for system programming and does decently well in all other areas.

 

[Nix_Hex]

An unnecessary mod? :P

*no longer idolizes mingot* count me in on MATLAB too, that got me through some tough spots.