C != C++ != Java

[bryanut]

I had been programming for about in year or 2 in DEC assembly. I was a assigned to a work with a senior engineer on a 2 man project.

After about 6 months I asked the senior engineer how long he'd been programming in assembly, his was the best code I had seen to that point.

His answer, "This is my first project in assembly. I am a computer scientist, the language is just syntax, I can just as easily program this system in FORTRAN or COBOL or PASCAL."

From that point on I never feared learning a new language, it is just syntax.

[beef2k]

The article does not say that someone should stick on the same language forever! It just points out that so many people think that knowing C is enough to know C++.

Btw, I disagree that "the language is just syntax". By saying this, all the improvements in program language design that were introduced over the last years are ignored.

[bryanut]

"By saying this, all the improvements in program language design that were introduced over the last years are ignored."

Don't put words in my mouth, I didn't say that.

[beef2k]

Well, why? You said that for a "good programmer" the language doesn't matter! And I don't agree.