Least favourite programming language?

PhantomBeaker

In terms of the languages I work with on a regular basis, ksh93 scripts on Solaris. Or Expect (but that's really TCL afaicr).

ksh93 because it lulls you into a false sense of security then springs something absolutely developmentally challenged at you. Expect because the chances of the script working from one version (even minor versions) of expect to another are practically nil.

mcmoustache

First, Javascript. It's everywhere and overused. I was working on a project a few years ago and inherited the work of a colleague who had left. I found js files that were up to 2000 lines long for validating a text field against some rules and a database. He reinvented the wheel multiple times. I suppose that's not really the fault of javascript but having to maintain that has left a sour taste in my mouth since.

I also hate BASIC variants. I work with VAX BASIC, VB6 and VB.Net regularly and they remind me of those "tills" that the doctors had in Idiocracy with the simple pictures. It just doesn't feel right.

And another thing.....GOTO. I wish people would try to avoid it. It's OK for error trapping but it I don't think it was ever intended as a conditional statement. I never use it myself but trying to follow code with too many GOTOs is just a head-fcuk.

Sparks

Hands down, no contest, C++.

No consistent ABI of any kind, inconsistent implementations of so-called 'standard' features for things like templates, still lets you shoot off your own foot despite claiming to be safer than C, and has a massive amount of language bloat compared to other languages that had the same goal (adding OO programming support to C) - look at the amount of new language features in ObjC for comparison.

I mean, I like OOP, but not with C++. C++ is to OOP what Angel Delight is to a good pastry chef.

hobochris

VB... It bores me to tears, no challenge what so ever, everything is to easy.


Microsoft should have marketed it "VB, for those that can't".

Naikon

Tough one, but I would have to say Java is my least.
It seems to be very verbose in it's implementation.

The standard API is also insanely large. Probably because
of backwards compat, but there are so many ways of doing
the same task if you actually sit down and have a read.

I prefer small consistant tools and interfaces. You could
nearly keep the (albeit small) C standard API in your head.
Remembering exact parameters would not be easy though.

Write once, run anywhere - If you keep the code base
agnostic and not use MS libraries, this should not be
too much of a problem depending on the application.

I am no ninja developer, but any code I do write tends
to pretty portable by default. A recompile should be the
last step. ELF binaries are your friend.

Apparently, the equality operators only compares references
and not the actual values contained? Convention slashing.

You can't even reference a java source file through the
filesystem unless you are working in the same dir as the
file, or set a bunch of java specific variables.

Java debugging is a bit dodgy too and please don't try to strace
a java process. It will induce tear shredding. I assure you this.

Naikon

Civilian_Target wrote: »

MSSQL (its sort of like other SQLs, but not, and thus more confusing)

All Microsoft products are designed to not work 100%
with industry adopted open standards. Lock in tactic.

Not a huge fan of SQL myself, but it's uber important
for any type of relational database. If you want to actually
like a particualar tool, avoid Microsofts implementation:pac:

I may come across as high and mighty by saying this, but you
should try to boycott any microsoft product forced upon you.

Hellm0

In terms of syntax, Perl. Practically unreadable.

That aside, I actually enjoy working with most languages. The only reason I come to hate them is usually because of improper implementation, by myself or others. Best tool for the job is the one that should be used and it is the problem/solution I find interesting, not the elegance of the tool.

dlofnep

Visual basic. What a pile of bloated, shíte. Worst for me anyone. Studied it for 6 months and got the Visual Basic MCP a few years ago. Couldn't code anything in it now and wouldn't want to.

I've been dabbling with assembly on a commodore 64 as of late for the craic. Low-level programming is really tough, but interesting. My only other experience is with Java, C++ and PHP. I had a quick look at ruby which was interesting.

Hellm0

dlofnep wrote: »

Visual basic. What a pile of bloated, shíte. Worst for me anyone. Studied it for 6 months and got the Visual Basic MCP a few years ago. Couldn't code anything in it now and wouldn't want to.

I've been dabbling with assembly on a commodore 64 as of late for the craic. Low-level programming is really tough, but interesting. My only other experience is with Java, C++ and PHP. I had a quick look at ruby which was interesting.

SINNER!

Had I my way I'd flog those 37 signals wimps, bunch of self-aggrandizing hipsters.

dlofnep

Hellm0 wrote: »

SINNER!

Had I my way I'd flog those 37 signals wimps, bunch of self-aggrandizing hipsters.

LOL

Gotta expand your horizons. Different levels for different things! Most of the ruby I looked at was only for it's web framework.

Hellm0

dlofnep wrote: »

LOL

Gotta expand your horizons. Different levels for different things! Most of the ruby I looked at was only for it's web framework.

Hehe I've worked in design shops where Ruby on Rails was adopted a little too quickly, to the detriment of established technologies like .NET. Let's just say I have developed a true hatred for progressive techno-hipsters who throw around phrases like MVC without knowing what it means but who assume it justifies the use of RoR over a more suitable candidate.

dlofnep

Hellm0 wrote: »

Hehe I've worked in design shops where Ruby on Rails was adopted a little too quickly, to the detriment of established technologies like .NET. Let's just say I have developed a true hatred for progressive techno-hipsters who throw around phrases like MVC without knowing what it means but who assume it justifies the use of RoR over a more suitable candidate.

Well, I've experience with JSP prior to it - But I like to keep current.

Hellm0

dlofnep wrote: »

Well, I've experience with JSP prior to it - But I like to keep current.

Nothing wrong with that, keep up the good work:)

Should look into Flex, looks to be quite in demand.

dlofnep

Might do when I've a spare minute Thanks

LowOdour

JavaScript aint that bad, but the way its implemented can be.

I dare somebody to start working with Ext JS. Javascript based....but an absolute horror to work with

Calina

Hellm0 wrote: »

.... phrases like MVC ....

MoVe Character?


I love this discussion. I am not a fan of SQL in any shape or form but applaud my DBA colleagues who know their stuff. I'm not familiar with a lot of other things; but from my experience, pretty much every single language can be mangled by someone.

E39MSport

Least favourite programming language?

The language for programming women. Still can't get the hang of it. Thinking about getting a new application server to compile it on. A nice new one with Bigger 'disks' and less computing power....

Herbal Deity

Java.

It's overtly verbose, bloated and simplified to the point of being extremely limiting. It always feels like you're using a language designed for people who don't understand basic computing concepts. It's only saving grace is the support and extensive range of apis.

remus808

Herbal Deity wrote: »

Java.

It's overtly verbose, bloated and simplified to the point of being extremely limiting. It always feels like you're using a language designed for people who don't understand basic computing concepts.

Care to elaborate?

Excluding pointers, how is Java any less powerful than any of the other common OO languages?

lmimmfn

Herbal Deity wrote: »

Java.

It's overtly verbose, bloated and simplified to the point of being extremely limiting. It always feels like you're using a language designed for people who don't understand basic computing concepts. It's only saving grace is the support and extensive range of apis.

on the contrary, java's ease of use simplifies software design in general, RSA/Eclipse UML->java and back again is a cinch. Its not perfect, but the introduction of generics was a fantastic move by Sun and long overdue if you ask me, also the removal of multiple inheritence from C++ was a very smart move by Sun. The language should be about design rather than getting bogged down in semantics or core dumps( which java can get of corse if youre using jni or the jvm itself crashes ) or whatever. The platform independence is also a godsend if your target platform is Solaris but youre developing on PC.

Noobs will abuse it of course, but any language can be abused.

Personally i hate Visual Basic, now thats oversimplified( powerful but i personally dont like the code base that you end up with maintaining ).

Herbal Deity

lmimmfn wrote: »

on the contrary, java's ease of use simplifies software design in general, RSA/Eclipse UML->java and back again is a cinch. Its not perfect, but the introduction of generics was a fantastic move by Sun and long overdue if you ask me, also the removal of multiple inheritence from C++ was a very smart move by Sun. The language should be about design rather than getting bogged down in semantics or core dumps( which java can get of corse if youre using jni or the jvm itself crashes ) or whatever. The platform independence is also a godsend if your target platform is Solaris but youre developing on PC.

*shrug.

I guess I just like pointers, operator overloading, C++ templates over Java generics, the ability to do my own memory management etc.

I'm generally more interested in low level stuff. I like being able to do quick hacky things. I'm not really interested in safeguards and simplicity if it comes at the cost of, for example, not being able to modify two values in a function.

Having Looked briefly at C#, it seems like the language that Java should be. I'll know whether or not this is true in the next few weeks after I've played with it.

Kila

I've worked with a good few languages, both in college and out there in the "real world". Probably my least favourites have been Lisp (a hideous college course with a lazy professor) and VBScript (my first work experience that involved programming).

I've used a bunch of web languages (as I'm a web developer by trade) and am currently using Java (J2EE implementation) and Caché (now there's obscure for you!). I love Caché so far, I think it's a great language.

jmcc

Java and Pascal. Great for academics but lousy for real world applications.

Regards...jmcc

Evil Phil

For myself I would have to say its vb.net just because it takes so much code to achieve anything. When you compare it to C# they could have done a much better job.

lmimmfn

Herbal Deity wrote: »

*shrug.

I guess I just like pointers, operator overloading, C++ templates over Java generics, the ability to do my own memory management etc.

I'm generally more interested in low level stuff. I like being able to do quick hacky things. I'm not really interested in safeguards and simplicity if it comes at the cost of, for example, not being able to modify two values in a function.

Having Looked briefly at C#, it seems like the language that Java should be. I'll know whether or not this is true in the next few weeks after I've played with it.

Ahh java is definately not for low level stuff, assembly,C,C++ are much better at that for the simple reason that java is ment to be portable, and thus the environment is abstracted. You can use a jni bridge to achieve any low level stuff in C or C++ or whatever, but that can crash the jvm.

Most languages have their pros and cons and more adept in certain environments.

C# while cool, the library documentation is horrible, its light years ahead of MFC, its just very messy, but it is great if you want to do windows specific tasks or integrate with DirectX or the OS, and its much much easier to design with than C++

jmcc wrote: »

Java and Pascal. Great for academics but lousy for real world applications.

Regards...jmcc

Pascal is junk, but under no circumstances can you say java is lousy for real world apps, ive worked on a project where our java based server processed over 3 million transactions per day, and had to be up and running 99.99% of the time, nice and robust

Dont get me wrong, i like loads of lauguages, my order of preference( if not doing low level stuff and extreme performance isint required ) is java->C#->C++->C

dazberry

lmimmfn wrote: »

Pascal is junk, but under no circumstances [snip]

Pascal is actually a very powerful and elegant (if a bit verbose) language, and in some incarnations as modern as any other language today (generics, anonymous methods, operator overloading, unicode support, RTTI etc).

I suspect a lot of people get exposure via some college project using some ancient version of turbo pascal or delphi and make a judgement based on these old tools and their very limited exposure to the language.

I think developers tend to over evangelise their tools too, and at the same time think they're "better" than those using different tools - sort of like a snob factor - C++ -> C#/Java -> Pascal -> Basic etc. But if the only tool you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail!! Of course I still hate BASIC type dialects

D.

mark renton

CafeObj - fcukin joke - antivirus see it as a virus, seems like somebody made up this crap just to annoy people

Farls

COBOL and C++....despise them but luckily don't have to work with them anymore...life is good with Java and .NET technologies :-)