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Took a little bit of a break now that the school year has started. Today’s topic is, “Why know so many Languages?”.
I know quite a bit of programming languages. Started out with JavaScript, moved to Java and Kotlin later on, while picking up a few others along the way. I’ve been asked a few times why I know so many languages, and the answer is simple: I like to learn new things.
Usually it just comes from practice. I would say I code in Kotlin the most right now, but still remember quite a bit of Java and C++ knowledge. When writing the various bindings for LevelZ, I probably had to lookup the CPP documentation the most, as opposed to the Java or even C documentation. The last time I really did a full CPP project was when I made Terminal Miner back in 2022, which was quite a bit ago.
The languages I know and code in on a “reglular basis” (maintenance) are on my GitHub, ranked in order of most to least used. Kotlin is my favorite progarmming language, and while I know it, I do not like Python. Since most of the languages I code in are C or C descendants (Java, Kotlin, C++, JavaScript), I can usually pick up a new language in a few days. Rust and Go seem interesting, but I haven’t had the time to learn it yet, and I would need a reason to.
Usually I learn new languages for a type of project. The only reason I made the C Bindings for LevelZ is that I realized that C++ headers aren’t compatible with C projects, and I made Terminal Miner because I was bored after finishing a test in class.
You only really need one or two languages to be successful, but I only learned so much because I really wanted to, and I had a reason to. I think you need both in order to fully dive yourself into learning a completely new language, new compiler or interpreter, and engage with an entirely new community. I think that’s why I know so many languages, and why I continue to learn new ones.