Ask HN: Which programming languages do you like/dislike?

I like languages that help me solve the problem I'm trying to solve. So the question becomes: What do you want to do? What kind of language will do the most to help you get there?

Java is nice because of the huge library. That's code you don't have to write (though it's code you do have to find). Other JVM languages can use that library, too, IIUC.

Python is close to Java in having a library for everything. I think Python may be better for numerical analysis. It may also be easier to use.

C++ gives you more precise control over resources. If that's the battle you have to fight, C++ has some advantages. Rust may give more, but I'm not sure how well Rust does for resources other than memory. (C++'s RAII approach, plus destructors, can solve many resource leaks.) But if you don't have to tightly control resources, something with garbage collection may get you further.

Go is designed to help with the problems that come up when you have multiple-million-line codebases that live for multiple decades. (It may be another decade before we know whether Go succeeded.) If that's the problem you're facing, Go may be worth a look. It also may be worthwhile if easy communication between processes/threads is what you need.

If your problem can be helped by strict typing, Haskell may have the best story, but any statically-typed language will help with that more than any non-statically-typed language.

That was presuming that you wanted to solve a particular problem. If what you want is to learn, try Haskell and/or Lisp. If what you want is a paycheck, try Javascript, Java, C#, or C++.

Pick the tool for the job, not because you really like the tool...

I like Lisp and Python, but Ruby pays the bills these days -- so I guess I like that too. And I consider both Python and Ruby to be semi-lisps.

Take from that what you will.

I find Ocaml, Ada, and Rust very interesting -- but have only dabbled in them. I also dig the hell out of C, but haven't used it seriously for nearly twenty years.

I dislike all languages named after hot caffeinated beverages, and only grudgingly accept anything that runs on the JVM -- even ABCL and Clojure.

And I have finally begun to like (modern) SQL -- though I would do SQL92 grievous bodily harm if it were possible.

Do you want a flame war? Because that's how you get a flame war.

That being said, I like C and Python; none of that hipster startup bullshit like Java, Ruby, Node.js, Swift, or Rust.