[Tutor] Question

[David Hutto]

On Sat, Jun 19, 2010 at 7:24 AM, ALAN GAULD <alan.gauld at btinternet.com> wrote:
>
>
>> belt, then go ahead and learn anything else you like. But even then, if you have
>> to learn two new ones at the same time, I'd recommend they be very unlike.
>> So you could learn Lisp or Forth at the same time as you were learning Ruby, but
>> I'd not try to learn Perl and Python at the same time.
>
> Actually that's a point. I favour learning two languages that are semantically
> similar buut syntactically different. Thats why I chose JavaScript and VBScript
> as my tutorial languages, because the syntax of each is so different you are
> less likely to get confused, but the underlying programming model is very
> similar in each case.
>
> So with Bob's illustration of the Harley in mind I'll withdraw the suggestion to
> learn Python and Ruby - because the syntax is very similar - but keep the
> Python/Lisp/Object Pascal ccombinations.
>
> Having said that I stll recommend that most folks learn one at a time. Unless
> you are the kind of person that actively prefers comparative study it will
> be better to keep to one language.
>
> Alan G
>
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Being an independent learner/hobbyist scholar myself, I have to wonder
what the motivation is for wanting to learn two languages. Is it just
for satisfaction to bring the dead, curious cat back, or maybe to
impress friends,, or to accomplish some task, or to understand the
technology you use better...or...

In other words, what's the reason behind your goal? Mine, for
instance, is that once I started to learn the languages, I also had a
curiosity towards the inner workings, so it seemed that the obvious
path is to move towards the lower level languages from a programming
stand point, but it also makes since to learn from the power plant
through the outlet.

I enjoy communicating with the electrons, so I want to go at it from
both ends, so if better understanding technology is your motivation,
then I say take the most well rounded, comprehensive approach to what
you want to know more about.

So, I think, the question isn't should I learn two languages, but what
is the ultimate goal of my understanding, and what is the more well
rounded means to meet this end desire.