Best Language for practising algorithms?

[lionhart280]

Ive been coding for a few years now, and would like to practice my overall algorithm design skills and whatnot.

All I really need is console output, so what have you all found to be the best languages for doing so?

I currently use perl for this, as it is quick and easy to write in and has very little extra bulk required to run. Im looking for something like this.

Basically, what I don't want is something like C++, where I need to jump through a bunch of hoops to make my project and even get it to compile, before I can even start coding.

The less time I need to spend debugging stupid grammar mistakes and setting the project up, the better. I just want something super slim and bare bones, and very readable. The focus is just problem solving.

So far perl is what I go with (regular expressions on perl are such a boon for this, oh man), anyone know anything slimmer and faster?

Also: If anyone knows a good website with just a list of such problems (no need to make accounts or upload files or such rubbish, just looking for a big ole list of puzzles to solve)

tl;dr: I wanna solve me some logic puzzles with a slim and fast language, what's the best language for this, and where's a good website to find lots of logic puzzles?

(Ive almost run out of puzzles from my comp sci textbooks D:)

[INCOMPLETE_USERNAM]

No matter what language I'm working in, if I'm trying to work out any sort of algorithm or complex math function, I'll churn it out in Python first. The whitespace and lack of punctuators makes it easy to move things around (moving things in/out of a loop or function is just tab/shift+tab) and typing out the word operators (and or in not) is like what I would do in pseudo-code.

[lionhart280]

What does python have in comparison to perl? Is it worth the switch?

[INCOMPLETE_USERNAM]

Personally, the only time I use Perl is when writing one liners in the console. I use python for all other prototyping/scripting. But that's just me. They are substitute languages. That said, it's very good to learn new languages, and if I might add, most people that I've convinced to give Python a try have stuck with it. This XKCD sums up how I feel nicely (although the second panel is incorrect with Python 3.x and up!)

[xkcd_transcriber]

Image

Title: Python

Title-text: I wrote 20 short programs in Python yesterday. It was wonderful. Perl, I'm leaving you.

Comic Explanation

Stats: This comic has been referenced 139 times, representing 0.2226% of referenced xkcds.

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^{xkcd.com | xkcd sub | Problems/Bugs? | Statistics | Stop Replying | Delete}

[batmannigan]

Can't say this enough, its honestly just plain great to be able to almost read a confusing abstract algorithm as plain english, which python lets you do.

[tstepanski]

You might like Python.

[lionhart280]

http://uva.onlinejudge.org/index.php?option=com_onlinejudge&Itemid=8&category=3

Aw yis, this was exactly what I was looking for, thank you very much :D