Today I eventually received my own copy of "Seven Languages in Seven Weeks". To be sincere, I started reading the electronic version some time ago (Pragmatic Programmers had a huge discount some time ago, just after the "Programming Ruby" at 10$).
I'm not going to criticize the language choice. In fact, I think that the languages are a wise selection (Ruby, Io, Scala, Clojure, Prolog, Haskell, Erlang). They are all interesting languages and have something other languages do not have. Although I'm quite into Python, I'm not going to complain for its exclusion: the author is far more confident with Ruby (as far as he tells) and that means that his explanations are surely more accurate.
I love the idea of the seven languages in seven weeks: beware, this is not a "Teach yourself C++ in 21 bloody hours". The author is well aware that you could not possibly learn seven languages in seven weeks, but you can understand what those languages are about in seven weeks. I'm thinking about the potential this book has when read by people grown up in closed Microsoft or Java contexts (or perhaps even C and C++). If after reading this book he is still convinced that all the languages are the same he is either a compiler or a very distract reader (and probably hasn't understood a thing about the book).
Just seeing the languages is a wonderful enlightening experience. Realizing how much useless boilerplate compiler-friendly code some languages force developers to read is the first step towards better ways of programming.
And what about me? Well... I already knew 5 of the 7 languages quite well. I have known Ruby and Haskell for 5 years or so, a couple of years later I learned Erlang as well. Besides, I also wrote some thousand of lines in Prolog for my BSc and my MSc dissertation was on logic programming (specifically on building an efficient "interpreter" for a given logic programming language not too dissimilar from Prolog itself). I started studying Clojure basically when the word of mouth started spreading, which makes it about 2 good years. So what's it for me? For example, I am sorry to say that I found the part on Prolog rather unsatisfactory, but hey... I don't think that the goal of the book is to teach me Prolog. However, it gave me a pleasant introduction to Io (which I would have probably never learned) and convinced my that my first impressions on Scala were wrong and perhaps I have to give it a second chance.
So definitively worth reading. And here a free chapter!
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| Seven Languages in Seven Weeks |
I'm not going to criticize the language choice. In fact, I think that the languages are a wise selection (Ruby, Io, Scala, Clojure, Prolog, Haskell, Erlang). They are all interesting languages and have something other languages do not have. Although I'm quite into Python, I'm not going to complain for its exclusion: the author is far more confident with Ruby (as far as he tells) and that means that his explanations are surely more accurate.
I love the idea of the seven languages in seven weeks: beware, this is not a "Teach yourself C++ in 21 bloody hours". The author is well aware that you could not possibly learn seven languages in seven weeks, but you can understand what those languages are about in seven weeks. I'm thinking about the potential this book has when read by people grown up in closed Microsoft or Java contexts (or perhaps even C and C++). If after reading this book he is still convinced that all the languages are the same he is either a compiler or a very distract reader (and probably hasn't understood a thing about the book).
Just seeing the languages is a wonderful enlightening experience. Realizing how much useless boilerplate compiler-friendly code some languages force developers to read is the first step towards better ways of programming.
And what about me? Well... I already knew 5 of the 7 languages quite well. I have known Ruby and Haskell for 5 years or so, a couple of years later I learned Erlang as well. Besides, I also wrote some thousand of lines in Prolog for my BSc and my MSc dissertation was on logic programming (specifically on building an efficient "interpreter" for a given logic programming language not too dissimilar from Prolog itself). I started studying Clojure basically when the word of mouth started spreading, which makes it about 2 good years. So what's it for me? For example, I am sorry to say that I found the part on Prolog rather unsatisfactory, but hey... I don't think that the goal of the book is to teach me Prolog. However, it gave me a pleasant introduction to Io (which I would have probably never learned) and convinced my that my first impressions on Scala were wrong and perhaps I have to give it a second chance.
So definitively worth reading. And here a free chapter!
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