[Tutor] a quick Q: how to use for loop to read a series of files with .doc end

[Steven D'Aprano]

Alan Gauld wrote:
> On 07/10/11 16:40, lina wrote:
> 
>> but today I was also discouraged, I was told that you should not have
>> learned python, you should focus on C or bash, or D, cause python is
>> going to be obsolete,
> 
> C is a great language for writing Operating Systems and other "near the 
> metal" code. But its not the best language for busiess apps, artificial 
> intelligence and a host of other things. Bash is a good user shell, but 
> its not even the best Unix shell for scripting (Thats probably ksh).
> D? Who actually uses D? I think your informant was not well informed.


Ah, flame wars over which is the best language :)

I don't know enough about ksh to compare it to bash, but at least you 
didn't recommend csh :)

http://www.faqs.org/faqs/unix-faq/shell/csh-whynot/

But frankly, all the shell languages are pretty horrible.

D might not be a popular language, but it is a modern, advanced language 
in the C family, influenced heavily by Python. If I were to learn a new 
statically typed procedural/object-oriented language, I'd seriously 
consider learning D.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D_(programming_language)

But it really depends on why you are learning the language.

Are you learning a language because you need it for a specific job or 
project? Then learn whatever language you need, because you need it, 
regardless of whether it is widespread or not.

Are you learning a language because you want to maximize your chances of 
getting a job? Then learn one of the big commercial languages like VB, 
C, C++, PHP, Javascript or Java. You won't learn to be a better 
programmer, you may learn to be a *worse* programmer, and you might be 
competing with thousands of code monkeys, but there are plenty of jobs 
available.

Are you learning a language because you want to get the highest paid 
job? Then become an expert in an old language like PL/I or Fortran or 
something, and do it 30 years ago so you can claim 30 years experience. 
Now, if you can find a job -- and good luck with that -- you can pretty 
much set your own rate.

Do you want to learn a new language for the love of learning languages? 
Then learn a wide variety of languages.

Do you want to expand your skill-set (good for the resume!) and open 
your mind to new programming concepts? Then learn a variety of languages 
using many different programming paradigms:

* procedural
* declarative
* functional
* logic/deductive
* object-oriented
* stack-based
* concatenative
* concurrent
* natural language programming
* esoteric languages

etc.

Even if you don't have the time to learn the language, learn ABOUT the 
language.

You will never say, "Gosh, I wish I knew FEWER programming languages!"



-- 
Steven