Personally I am a happy Python developer and I don't feel it's worth it for me (in terms of time) to learn another language. Maybe once Python starts to be obsolete I'll switch but in the meantime I can't afford spending time learning something new just for the sake of it.
That's a really interesting (and, in my opinion, negative viewpoint)
I have been a Python developer since 2006/2007 and every time I depart to another community for a while, I return with a ton of new ways to think about problems. Not only that, you'll usually have a newfound appreciation for things in Python you might not have really cared about before (eg decorator syntax)
- Becoming a Rails developer was a game changer. The Pythonistas tout it to be 'magic', but it's really not. It's easy to understand what is going on. Once you use a tool like Rails in more advanced situations – every Python web framework looks like a horse drawn carriage.
- On a related note, reading Eloquent Ruby was one of the most epic nonfiction reading experiences of my life. After reading that book, I rarely see "programming magic" to be magic anymore. I understand it all. A lot of the knowledge from that book translates well to Python too, since Python and Ruby are very similar.
- Learning Clojure and using it day-to-day at FarmLogs has made me think more functional than I did previously.
It's usually not just the language that is going to open your mind - but the frameworks, tools and communities that grow around the language. It's like visiting a new country. You're gonna love certain customs and dislike others.
Anyway... saying you don't have time for something that will open your mind and make you a better programmer sounds like a grumpy old man who's missing out on the world.
Despite the naysayer replies you are getting, I understand this viewpoint. I'm also a Python developer, business owner, and family man...very little time for learning extra things. Right now, I have my hands full keeping up with changes/frameworks on the front-end, which is where my customers will benefit from improvements. Elixir is on the fringe for me, something I will keep an eye on, but won't seriously consider using unless it has significant developer mindshare in 3-5 years.
So, yes, learning is good. But we are still finite beings with limited time. Having priorities about what you will spend your time learning, and choosing Elixir to not be one of those priorities, is a legitimate stance. Thanks for sharing.
This is exactly my point. When I was a teenager with lots of free time I loved experimenting with new languages and stuff. Now I am employed and the little time I have outside of work I'd rather spend it with my friends and family instead of tinkering with tech. I do enough programming at work, I don't need even more of it when I'm home.
I wouldn't stop learning new languages. They are just tools, and knowing several of them lets you better judge how to face a new project/problem. I was (in fact, am) a happy Rubyist, but had to start working with Node and learnt to love the beauty of event-driven programming and prototypal inheritance. Now I'm learning Elm, as I'm quite interested in functional programming and event sourcing. I wouldn't say that any language is better that another, but knowing some of them and the principles they are based upon is helping me evolve as a developer and changes the way I code, regardless of the language I choose for a certain project.
I've come to pretty much the same conclusion as the OP. I used to love learning and trying new languages and I agree that learning things like C and Lisp and Haskell definitely made me a better python programmer. However over the past few years I've decided that python, while far from perfect, is the only language I've found that is good enough for everything I want to do. And more importantly I've realised that learning new languages is not the best use of my limited time. I'm much better off studying a new domain or practical application which I can apply python to than I am learning a new language do to the same thing I'm already doing in python.
I would highly recommend you not hold true to this. Learning encourages growth especially in languages like elixir and erlang which offer a functional view of how to approach problems. This can lead to better use of functional Python functions and methods such as map, lambda, etc.
Whether you use the other language doesn't mean there is no benefit to learning it
Personally I am a happy Python developer and I don't feel it's worth it for me (in terms of time) to learn another language.
This is a very limiting view of the programming space and world in general, hopefully with time you will understand that learning a new language will only help you to get better in your old language. You don't need to invest years in a new language to get the gist of it.
Comments
Personally I am a happy Python developer and I don't feel it's worth it for me (in terms of time) to learn another language. Maybe once Python starts to be obsolete I'll switch but in the meantime I can't afford spending time learning something new just for the sake of it.
That's a really interesting (and, in my opinion, negative viewpoint)
I have been a Python developer since 2006/2007 and every time I depart to another community for a while, I return with a ton of new ways to think about problems. Not only that, you'll usually have a newfound appreciation for things in Python you might not have really cared about before (eg decorator syntax)
- Becoming a Rails developer was a game changer. The Pythonistas tout it to be 'magic', but it's really not. It's easy to understand what is going on. Once you use a tool like Rails in more advanced situations – every Python web framework looks like a horse drawn carriage.
- On a related note, reading Eloquent Ruby was one of the most epic nonfiction reading experiences of my life. After reading that book, I rarely see "programming magic" to be magic anymore. I understand it all. A lot of the knowledge from that book translates well to Python too, since Python and Ruby are very similar.
- Learning Clojure and using it day-to-day at FarmLogs has made me think more functional than I did previously.
It's usually not just the language that is going to open your mind - but the frameworks, tools and communities that grow around the language. It's like visiting a new country. You're gonna love certain customs and dislike others.
Anyway... saying you don't have time for something that will open your mind and make you a better programmer sounds like a grumpy old man who's missing out on the world.
If I saw your reply before writing mine, I wouldn't have bothered responding :) Absolutely agree with every single word
Despite the naysayer replies you are getting, I understand this viewpoint. I'm also a Python developer, business owner, and family man...very little time for learning extra things. Right now, I have my hands full keeping up with changes/frameworks on the front-end, which is where my customers will benefit from improvements. Elixir is on the fringe for me, something I will keep an eye on, but won't seriously consider using unless it has significant developer mindshare in 3-5 years.
So, yes, learning is good. But we are still finite beings with limited time. Having priorities about what you will spend your time learning, and choosing Elixir to not be one of those priorities, is a legitimate stance. Thanks for sharing.
This is exactly my point. When I was a teenager with lots of free time I loved experimenting with new languages and stuff. Now I am employed and the little time I have outside of work I'd rather spend it with my friends and family instead of tinkering with tech. I do enough programming at work, I don't need even more of it when I'm home.
I wouldn't stop learning new languages. They are just tools, and knowing several of them lets you better judge how to face a new project/problem. I was (in fact, am) a happy Rubyist, but had to start working with Node and learnt to love the beauty of event-driven programming and prototypal inheritance. Now I'm learning Elm, as I'm quite interested in functional programming and event sourcing. I wouldn't say that any language is better that another, but knowing some of them and the principles they are based upon is helping me evolve as a developer and changes the way I code, regardless of the language I choose for a certain project.
I've come to pretty much the same conclusion as the OP. I used to love learning and trying new languages and I agree that learning things like C and Lisp and Haskell definitely made me a better python programmer. However over the past few years I've decided that python, while far from perfect, is the only language I've found that is good enough for everything I want to do. And more importantly I've realised that learning new languages is not the best use of my limited time. I'm much better off studying a new domain or practical application which I can apply python to than I am learning a new language do to the same thing I'm already doing in python.
I would highly recommend you not hold true to this. Learning encourages growth especially in languages like elixir and erlang which offer a functional view of how to approach problems. This can lead to better use of functional Python functions and methods such as map, lambda, etc.
Whether you use the other language doesn't mean there is no benefit to learning it
This is a very limiting view of the programming space and world in general, hopefully with time you will understand that learning a new language will only help you to get better in your old language. You don't need to invest years in a new language to get the gist of it.