<html><head><style type='text/css'>p { margin: 0; }</style></head><body><div style='font-family: Arial; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000'>You could substitute Ruby for Python.<br><br>If you plan to do systems programming, such as device drivers or kernel work, you want C.<br><br>If you are going to do embedded systems, I think Forth is still used in some of them, due to memory constraints. Not everything has megabytes of memory.<br><br>For systems beyond a certain complexity, you probably want to use an object-oriented language, like C++ or Java. I don't know if functional languages, such as Haskell or Erlang, fit a particular set of problems particularly well.<br><br>You could even use Lisp. It has OO capability now.<br><br><hr id="zwchr"><b>From: </b>"David L. Willson" <DLWillson@TheGeek.NU><br><b>To: </b>"David T. Willson" <dtwillson@thegeek.nu>, "Max G. Allen" <mgallen@thegeek.nu>, "CLUE's mailing list" <clue@cluedenver.org><br><b>Sent: </b>Monday, May 7, 2012 11:57:15 AM<br><b>Subject: </b>[clue] Budding SW Engineers<br><br><style>p { margin: 0; }</style><div style="font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 12pt; color: #000000">I can't <span>count the number of times I've been asked, "What is the best programming language? Which one should I learn first?"<br><br>I can answer now, with some confidence.<br><br>Learn them all, but start with Python, because it's easy, fun, and highly capable out-of-the box.<br><br>Next, if you want to get further away from the OS, go Java. If you want to get closer to the OS, go bash.<br><br></span><span id="1db0e1d5-cb88-49a4-8e2f-e90f3b6109a8">And enough JavaScript and perl to get by on.<br><br><span></span>--<br>David L. Willson<br>Trainer, Engineer, Enthusiast<br>RHCE Network+ A+ Linux+ LPIC-1 Ubuntu<br>Mobile 720-333-LANS(5267)<br><br>This is a good time for a r3volution.<span></span><br></span><br></div><br>_______________________________________________<br>clue mailing list: clue@cluedenver.org<br>For information, account preferences, or to unsubscribe see:<br>http://cluedenver.org/mailman/listinfo/clue</div></body></html>