[GRLUG] sysadmin job opening

[Michael Mol]

On 2/1/2010 11:11 AM, Bob Kline wrote:
>   Which is why some people when to ADA
> and COBAL in the past.  Maintainability was
> the key factor.  Programmers hate the
> regimentation, which also gets to the heart
> of the matter.  I doubt that a proliferation of
> languages is helping much.  The issue being
> whether a new variation on the same
> functionality has any real payoff long term.

Actually, a lot of government programming is still done in ADA.

>
> One could argue that whatever floats to the
> top is best, but that can simply be a result of
> what courses people take in school, the
> instructor's take on what is good, and of
> course what provides employment later on.
> 50 years ago what was best was what IBM
> said was best.  Different forces for different
> times.  Probably none more fundamentally
> significant than the others.

I wouldn't argue that whatever floats to the top is the best; It may be 
the best at survival, and subsequently get the largest support 
community, but that usually means it had a more effective marketing 
strategy leading up to that point. I've seen languages that appear to be 
much better than anything I'm proficient in.

I usually make it a point to avoid advocating languages, but I'd suggest 
people check out Oz.  It's a language I plan on picking up when I have 
the time. It covers several paradigms I've been interested in checking 
out, including predicate and functional programming.

http://rosettacode.org/wiki/Oz