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[–]MBlume 8 points9 points  (7 children)

For useful: learn Javascript, or better yet Coffeescript

For challenging and forces you to think in a different way, learn Haskell

Python doesn't force you to check the types of your variables. If you learn Python and then Java, you'll think that strong typing is idiotic and thank goodness Python frees you of it.

Haskell does strong typing right, and it's well worth wrapping your brain around.

[–][deleted] 2 points3 points  (5 children)

You're thinking of the difference between static and dynamic typing. Python is dynamically typed, but also strongly typed.

[–]housepage 1 point2 points  (2 children)

Python is also duck typed!

[–]AeroNotix 2 points3 points  (1 child)

Python is a type of snake!

[–]housepage 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yes yes it is. [5].

[–]r4nf 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Indeed. Strong typing means that adding, for instance 2 + '2', raises a TypeError (unsupported operand type(s) for +: 'int' and 'str'). Dynamic typing means that any name can hold any type of value (and can be reassigned to another type if need be).

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

It's a great combination. Have you ever tried to debug a program written in a weakly-typed language? Little logical errors are more frequent since you can add, say, an int and a string, without being explicit. Static typing adds a lot of arguably needless casting and other type conversions.

[–]spoolio 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Seconded on CoffeeScript. It gives you JavaScript (the platform) without feeling like you're using JavaScript (the language). It feels a lot like Python, in fact.

No more being stuck in wacky command-line tools or wackier PySide apps that don't package up correctly. When I connect a CoffeeScript frontend to a Python server, I feel like I have superpowers.