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this post was submitted on 06 Feb 2024
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Programming
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This one might be a bit controversial, but has rung true in my general experience. Probably a lot of exceptions to these rules, but here goes:
You don't really know a programming language until you understand a fair amount of the standard library and how packages/modules/dependencies work. Syntax is pretty easy, and any mainstream language will work just fine for solving basic leet-code style problems. But when you really spend a lot of time working with a language, you're going to spend more time learning about common libraries and how to manage dependencies. If you're working with a language like C++ or Java, this could also include build systems and how to use them.
Another precursor to being able to say that you know a language is that you should also be familiar with best practices (ie. how to name modules, how to write documentation, etc.) and common pitfalls (undefined behavior, etc.). This is one of the hardest parts about learning a new language in my opinion, because the language may not necessarily enforce these things, but doing them the wrong way can make your life very difficult.
That's what I hate about javascript, it doesn't warm you about undefined behavior, it just throws.
I used to not really care about that, but after learning C and Rust, damm, I wish there where result types everywhere
Some small nits to fix:
C has it's own undefined behavior.
JS has confusing behavior, not undefined behavior. Its specs are well defined and backwards compatible to a fault, making some things unintuitive and harder to learn if you don't learn the history of the language.
Problems with both should be avoided by learning and using standard practices. (Don't pretend C is object oriented, always use
===instead of==in js, etc...)In complete agreement:
thank you very much.
By undefined I meant the usage of undefined in the language, however you phrased it way better :)