Ask HN: Best programming language to learn for expanding my knowledge?

Y	Hacker News new \| ask \| show \| jobs

4 points by ciaoben 3779 days ago

Hi to all, I am a Ruby developer who primarly works on the web. I know also Javascript, and just enough PHP to be dangerous.

But I feel that I need to learn a most 'complete' or better, lower level, programming language to improve my arsenal of weapons and to improve the way I think while programming.

I am fascinated about a lot of languages, just to be clear, I am talking about the ivy league, something that is where C++ or Java are. Any advice?

Which is the best choice to improve my skills, and that can help me make the differences where languages like Ruby or Javascript can't?

2 comments

AnimalMuppet 3779 days ago

The best programming language to learn to expand your knowledge is one that is outside your current knowledge. Java, perhaps, but C++ is further outside your knowledge since it can go more low-level than Java can. Rust might be at the same level as C++, and might be easier to learn.

Or, you could go up - to higher-level instead of lower-level. Lisp or Haskell might be worth your while.

link

new_hackers 3779 days ago

If you want Ivy League then Scheme is a good choice

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_and_Interpretation_o...

link