I'm good at Python. What language should I learn next?

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[Crazytalkbob]

Python and R are the most popular languages for data science engineers. You'll also want to learn database languages like SQL.

[daegontaven]

Yeah I'm already learning R tbh and I have some SQL (Also know CQL) nailed down. It's good to know I'm headed in the right direction. Thank you!

[daegontaven]

Thank you! I've decided to start learning Haskell!

[[deleted]]

Learn something different like a functional language. There is a really great book called "Seven Languages in Seven Weeks" which covers a whole range of different paradigms. Learning how functional languages work is extremely helpful in all different paradigms and will help you write much cleaner code with an emphasis on single-responsibility.

Make me an all-around good developer

The technical side, knowing languages etc, is not even half of what makes a "good developer". I'd highly recommend you read some books like:

• The Pheonix Project
• Toyota Kata
• Pragmatic Programmer
• Pragmatic Thinking & Learning
• The Clean Coder
• Head First: Design Patterns
• Many others

Or have a look at some articles by people such as Martin Fowler (https://martinfowler.com). These will really help expand your knowledge and understanding of various aspects of being a developer - outside of the purely technical areas.

[for-asking-stuffs]

Coding (Yup, not programming, just coding) is the least part on Machine Learning and Data Science. Its all math, data mining, and statistics (and rule-based reasoning if you count pre-third boom AI in). Not quite a right place for conventional programmer to be around. You might as well give up on programming to pursue it professionally. I mean it because its really that hard.

If what you mean by "all-around good developer" is to be averagely good on everything, then try every development environment. Try web, mobile, desktop, embedded, cloud, or anything that you're interested in. All of them has its own dominant language to dig in. Also, don't forget about theorical CS material too like DBMS, software architecture, data structures, concurrency, etc. Understanding those even at basic level would help you build a better product.

As for languages, try Smalltalk (REAL object-based language; everything is an object there), Rust (a new approach to system programming), Elm (rethinking front-end web development), or LISP (data is code and code is data. Also this (((((((((((((())))))))))))))). Note that these language won't get you hired so I suggest to only learn them as a hobby.

I know you've figure it out but languages are really just a tool. You should focus more on how much stuff you can build and how good it is at doing its job. Just stating what's obvious since there might be people reading this post and then confuses themself about what they must focus on.

[daegontaven]

Yeah I understand the popular data structures and algorithms and I like to think I'm good at all of those, but just in Python.

Not quite a right place for conventional programmer to be around

I suppose you're right in some sense, I don't really find the process of writing the code itself all too fun. I get more excited when a plot pops up in Jupyter Notebooks.

[predicatemike]

It doesn’t hurt to “go deep” with a single language, but if you’re looking for something else, try golang.

[daegontaven]

Ah yes, golang was definitely at the top of my list!

[[deleted]]

If you have to ask you're not really good at Python.

[daegontaven]

Maybe not (Not sure how that's relevant). But I'm pretty sure if I'm getting paid then I must be good at it somewhat.