Computer Programming

» mmphosis - Microsoft?

Rollback to the 1980's, and your statement might sound like this...

Given IBM's influence in the marketplace, the question is probably - can anyone really avoid COBOL programming?

Sure, IBM and Microsoft are still somewhat influential in the marketplace. However, I think it is very important not to get locked into any particular language, platform, or technology because things change, and they change quickly. That old Gartner Group survey that said Microsoft had 90% of the marketshare is outdated, skewed, and for the most part just a lie cooked up by Microsoft (who were invested in Gartner Group.) Lots of software developers are currently buying the new MacBooks, or installing Linux/BSD on their PCs. There are many more platforms in the form of cel phones, game consoles, and MP3 players -- all of these are programmable, and all of these are outselling PCs and Microsoft. The dominant web server is Linux running Apache.

Concerning computer programming languages, there are lots of new and exciting changes appearing. I would say that C# is not a dominant language at the moment and probably won't be. At the moment, Java is probably the most used language, but that doesn't mean that Java is any good. For the appropriate task, I would look at using Ruby, Python, Squeak, ML, and functional languages.

-- posted by mmphosis

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» Guy Lecky-Thompson - Microsoft?

In response to Microsoft? posted by mmphosis:

Some great points : and I'm all for using appropriate languages rather than trying to shoehorn a solution into an ill-fitting environment.

However, I'm afraid that the days where programmers knowledge was like a Swiss army knife of available languages and solutions are past us. It's all specialize, specialize and specialize some more, these days!

However, people might like to turn to my 'Just Enough ...' series of books to combat this, and get enough useful knowledge to actually use a technology without becoming an expert. That way, we can leverage our experience without being tied to a platform.

The first in the series can be found at http://JustEnoughC.50webs.com - have fun!

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