Programmer Musings

Language Book Intros

In the past year, I've had to move my Java programming skills from recognize the language at twenty paces to professional Java programmer. In the process, I've been reading a number of books on the language. This has been my approach to learning every language I've ever worked with.

Almost all of the Java books have seemed to have a chapter or section in common that I haven't seen anywhere else. Does anyone know for certain if it is mandatory that every Java book has a bash the other languages chapter?

Maybe I've just had bad luck in picking books, but it does seem that almost every one that I have read has a chapter like this. They harp on obviously inherently insecure C, dangerous, convoluted C++, lowly scripting languages like Perl, and many other real or imagined flaws of other languages.

Now I do understand that programmers can become quite passionate about their favorite language. Ask almost any programmer about which language is best, or most powerful, and you can expect a lively discussion. But, I really don't recall this kind of diatribe in any other language books that I've read.

When I was first learning the C++ programming language (nine or ten years ago), some books devoted space to how C++ allowed for better abstractions and potentially more maintainable code than C. But, this information wasn't in every book and it was not an attack on C. It framed more as enhanced features for solving different kinds of problems.

When I was first learning the Perl programming language (over ten years ago), most of the books talked about ability to get work done and programmer efficiency. I do remember discussions of using Perl instead of combinations of AWK, SED, and shell scripting. But, I don't recall any attacks on other languages.

When I was learning the C programming language (over fifteen years ago), there was almost no mention of other languages in the books I read. There was a lot of talk of solving problems and a strong impression that you could solve any kind of program with C.

Even when I was learning the Forth programming language, there was a lot of talk in the books about the Forth way of solving problems, but other languages were not attacked.

The same hold true for every other computer language I have learned including Fortran, LISP, Basic, and x86 assembler. No books on any of these languages spent much time on the flaws of other languages, they focused on getting a job (or all jobs) done using this language.

One of my biggest gripes about this approach is the waste of space I end up paying for when I buy the book. If I'm buying a book on a particular programming language, I've already made the decision that I will be using the language (at least for the current project). At this point, I wish to learn syntax, idioms, tools, and approaches to solving problems with the language. I am not looking to be convinced that this language is the embodiment of the One, True Way to program.

I'm not looking for the One, True Way to program. I have many languages in my toolkit. I try to use the best one for each job.