Path: csiph.com!x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net!usenet.pasdenom.info!aioe.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Novice Newsgroups: comp.lang.java.programmer Subject: Re: Aspect questions? Date: Thu, 1 Mar 2012 01:44:06 +0000 (UTC) Organization: Your Company Lines: 54 Message-ID: References: <4f4a6b1d$0$290$14726298@news.sunsite.dk> NNTP-Posting-Host: Dmxgbnvd+eoRDUV2lwYf7Q.user.speranza.aioe.org X-Complaints-To: abuse@aioe.org User-Agent: Xnews/5.04.25 X-Antivirus-Status: Clean X-Notice: Filtered by postfilter v. 0.8.2 X-Antivirus: avast! (VPS 120229-1, 2012-02-29), Outbound message Xref: x330-a1.tempe.blueboxinc.net comp.lang.java.programmer:12547 Martin Gregorie wrote in news:jimfg8$di4$1@localhost.localdomain: > On Wed, 29 Feb 2012 15:25:55 +0000, Novice wrote: > >> I envy you for being fluent in both C and Java (and probably >> others!). I have other languages but they're pretty much all very >> rusty from lack of use. Mind you, I have found that I can relearn >> things pretty quickly even after a long gap. I had occasion to look >> at a COBOL program a few years back and found it very familiar. Mind >> you, I doubt I'd say the same about C if I were to try that again ;-) >> > Just about all I use these days are C and Java plus a few scripting > languages (awk, PHP, bash shell scripting and Perl if you insist). In > another life I wrote much more COBOL than was good for me, so could > probably get up to speed fast with that too. There are a raft of > others I used for single projects (PL/1) or that were specific to > particular hardware (TAL, PL/9, filetab, RPG III and various > assemblers). > > I'm not sure its useful to know a lot of languages: idioms often don't > transfer don't at all well and if you're not careful you can end up > writing the nasty sort of code best summarized as "a Real Programmer > can write FORTRAN in any language". > > I'm inclined to agree with you, Martin. I feel good about knowing at least one language that is very widely known and used, Java. And I can always fall back on COBOL in a pinch ;-) Some of the others, even if I refreshed myself on them, would be of no use anywhere. I don't imagine CSP is used anywhere any more. Or whatever 4GL Online Express was part of. ;-) I wonder if any employers consider it a mitigating factor if you know several languages if you are applying to them and Java is not their shop language (or one of them)? Or do they just drop you from consideration immediately and not even consider training you in their language? My impression is that employers all expect you to have a long list of qualifications and certifications in _exactly_ what they want. And they don't seem to want to have to spend any money training anyone for anything. I was talking to a friend who does volunteer work at a hospital and she was furious. She said even getting a job as a porter in a hospital - basically someone who pushes carts around and can apparently be fully trained in 20 minutes - requires a community college diploma with 8 required credits before they can get that diploma. She spoke of "credentialism run amuck". What next: a university degree in Chemical Engineering to be able to make coffee at Starbucks?.... -- Novice