On Fri, 5 Nov 2010 13:42:44 -0700 Sean Corfield <seancorfi...@gmail.com> wrote:
> On Fri, Nov 5, 2010 at 12:41 PM, Michael Ossareh <ossa...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I've regularly found that the multi-disciplinarian programmer is far more > > adept at solving issues in a creative manner than the "I've a skilled hammer > > and I'll wield it in the direction of any nail"-mono-linguistic programmer. > > Perhaps that is just an artifact of working in startups though. > > Possibly. His comment is generally true, at least so long as the languages are really different. The obvious solution in one language may be non-obvious in a second, but have advantages over the obvious solution in the second language. A programmer skilled in both languages is more likely to see that "creative" solution than one who only knows the second language. > I've worked in a variety of organizations from small > startups to large corporations (such as insurance companies). In the > smaller companies, developers have to wear more hats and it's common > for a web developer to know HTML, JavaScript, SQL, **insert scripting > language** and often shell scripts and / or other tools to help > automate tasks. I don't see much difference between that and **insert > multiple languages**. This affect only works if the languages are sufficiently different to have different "obvious" solutions for a large number of problems. This is why people recommend learning a LISP even if you'll never use it - it will expand the way you look at problems. In your case, you have a markup language instead of a programming language, a database language, and a handful of scripting languages. Depending on the scripting languages, that's more like an expert in C++, C# and Java - basically three iterations of the same language - than an expert in (for example) C, Python, and Scheme. When it comes to multi-language projects, if you project is all Python, then someone who knows C/Python/Scheme and someone who knows Java/Python/Clojure are probably equivalent candidates. If your project is Java/Python, then the second one would be a good fit, and the first somewhat questionable (at the very least, they'll need time to come up to speed on Java). So even if you restrict yourself to multilingual programmers, multiple implementation languages cuts down on the pool of qualified people. <mike -- Mike Meyer <m...@mired.org> http://www.mired.org/consulting.html Independent Network/Unix/Perforce consultant, email for more information. O< ascii ribbon campaign - stop html mail - www.asciiribbon.org -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Clojure" group. To post to this group, send email to clojure@googlegroups.com Note that posts from new members are moderated - please be patient with your first post. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to clojure+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/clojure?hl=en
