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by jarcane 4154 days ago
Going forward, 2-3 years, I would really like get more involved in machine learning, data analytics, scientific computing.

I would recommend the C# experience in so much as it will build familiarity with .NET, and thus allow you to graduate to F#, which is increasingly popular in those fields (and damn good at them).
1 comments
detrino 4154 days ago
> graduate to F#

This is condescending to C# programmers when F# is nearly the same language.

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ghuntley 4154 days ago
3 reasons why the C# type system is broken, and how F# improves the situation @ https://zeckul.wordpress.com/2015/02/05/3-reasons-why-the-c-...
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_random_ 4154 days ago
It's quite a different and useful language but definitely not a better one. You have to be forgiving, as F# is struggling to get more traction, especially in terms of tooling... No ReSharper, no CodeRush, no Roslyn. But I've heard that F# compiler implementation is quite elegant - that's something, right?
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louthy 4154 days ago
I have never understood this 'No ReSharper,...' argument. I've been writing C# for 10 years and the times I've used ReSharper it's just got in the way and is slow as hell. Effective C# development doesn't require ReSharper. CodeRush? I have literally never heard of it. So again, clearly not essential. No Roslyn? What? No C# compiler? Of course F# doesn't have Roslyn. Until very recently C# developers didn't have Roslyn either and they managed to develop software just fine. So clearly not a deal breaker.

F# is a fine language, and because of its heritage doesn't come with the mistakes that were built into C# because of its C++/Java heritage. 'Better' is clearly subjective. I subjectively find F# better than C#.

The OP is clearly interested in machine learning and the like, which would be much, much, easier in F# than either C# or C++ (not that they can't do it, mind).

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jarcane 4154 days ago
I'd be a lot more willing to get on board with the former part of that sentence if you hadn't blundered into the latter bit.

Paul Graham was right again. http://www.paulgraham.com/avg.html

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jjnoakes 4154 days ago
And Chinese is nearly English.
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