I read a few books on PHP and I pay attention to your posts here which often go over many 3rd party libraries. But I have not had any projects on it (I will not with this job, but I do want to keep prepared).
Java is still quite popular here (or at least in silicon valley as opposed to central valley.) I remember here when the initial complaints were that it was too slow. After a few versions there were quite big improvements, especially in reflection. C# is popular in mid-to-small applications and I will see a good amount of jobs up in Sacramento, but not as much in silicon valley.
An interesting trend I have heard from several people I have talked to (this is completely anecdotal) but they were mentioning they wanted to learn more about C++. I took several courses in C and one in C++, but was never overly enamored with the language.
And then their is JavaScript. A little hard to get away from if you are doing any client-side work for a web application :D. I’ve worn out a few David Flanagan books on the subject especially JavaScript: The Definitive Guide. I wonder how many people first learned doing HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Still sometimes it is a language I curse at. Sometimes I find server-side developers who just try to avoid JavaScript at all costs.
JavaScript has some odd quirks, just like most other complex systems. I’m still not entirely sure what to make of JavaScript on the server side. The client and server side worlds tend to have different strengths and weaknesses.
That said there are a number of people who like the idea of writing one language, JavaScript, on both sides. My gut feeling is that will end up in the same situation that Java “write once, run anywhere” did: an appealing idea that didn’t really pan out the way we thought it would.
2 replies on “Language Trends”
Hello Joe,
Hope you are doing well.
I read a few books on PHP and I pay attention to your posts here which often go over many 3rd party libraries. But I have not had any projects on it (I will not with this job, but I do want to keep prepared).
Java is still quite popular here (or at least in silicon valley as opposed to central valley.) I remember here when the initial complaints were that it was too slow. After a few versions there were quite big improvements, especially in reflection. C# is popular in mid-to-small applications and I will see a good amount of jobs up in Sacramento, but not as much in silicon valley.
An interesting trend I have heard from several people I have talked to (this is completely anecdotal) but they were mentioning they wanted to learn more about C++. I took several courses in C and one in C++, but was never overly enamored with the language.
And then their is JavaScript. A little hard to get away from if you are doing any client-side work for a web application :D. I’ve worn out a few David Flanagan books on the subject especially JavaScript: The Definitive Guide. I wonder how many people first learned doing HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Still sometimes it is a language I curse at. Sometimes I find server-side developers who just try to avoid JavaScript at all costs.
JavaScript has some odd quirks, just like most other complex systems. I’m still not entirely sure what to make of JavaScript on the server side. The client and server side worlds tend to have different strengths and weaknesses.
That said there are a number of people who like the idea of writing one language, JavaScript, on both sides. My gut feeling is that will end up in the same situation that Java “write once, run anywhere” did: an appealing idea that didn’t really pan out the way we thought it would.