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Comment by rayascott | Hacker News Reader

There are a few things in life you just should not do. One of them is jump from your only language experience being Python into an advanced language like Rust when you’re struggling to grok SQL.

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I don't care for this assumption that people who struggle with a programming language are so inexperienced anything they struggle with is their fault. It might be the case that Rust will always be an advanced language that beginners should avoid until they've mastered something else, but feedback from beginners could still make the experience easier for programmers who take the ideal path and learn it as their second or later programming language.

The other reason I dislike this assumption is that it's frequently wrong. Judging by the rest of his blog, the author does grok SQL. I'm pretty sure the Python to SQL example is either hypothetical or describes the author when he first learned SQL well in the past.

I don't mean to pick on you. I just see this attitude repeatedly in software development, and it leads to unnecessarily difficult software.

“anything they struggle with is their fault.”? When did I say or even imply that? I didn’t. Like the author, don’t make stuff up.

Your comment stated that going from Python to Rust while struggling with SQL is something "you just should not do". That implies that the struggles they describe are the result of trying to learn Rust before they're ready—an attitude I disagree with, even if it were true that the author was struggling with SQL.

Read what you wrote. You said that I implied that “ANYTHING they struggle with is their fault.”

I stand by "anything"—your post didn't make any exceptions. I should have been clearer that I was referring to an attitude your comment implied rather than an attitude you have, though, and for that I apologize.

Brandur is not struggling with SQL[0][1]. That was an illustrative example of the kinds of walls you encounter in life as a programmer.

[0]: https://brandur.org/postgres-reads

[1]: https://brandur.org/postgres-atomicity

Then perhaps he should become a fictional writer then. So what parts of this “story” are even true? But more importantly, what is the point of writing a fictitious story like this? If he’s not struggling with SQL and Rust, then what is it? Clickbait? I think you mean an illustrative example of Rust-bashing.

The introduction is a generic example of learning to program and the kind of difficulty curve you encounter there. Nowhere does it suggest that it's the current state of the authors knowledge.

Nowhere does this article suggest that the introduction is a generic example of learning to program. No. Where.

He's (the OP) also correct. SQL is really, really weird when you come from an imperative/functional perspective.

I've forgotten most of this as I've gotten used to SQL, but you can use variables before you define them (except when you can't (damn you group by not handling my alias)). Like all of this makes sense to me now, but it was pretty painful when I started. I distinctly remember WTF-ing my way through my first weeks with SQL.

Rust gives me a similar feeling.

I’m pretty sure the author knows more than just Python and SQL. I would guess from his bio he knows C++, Haskell, go, Ruby, and JS.

So what do you propose? He learn C first? Or he's just not allowed to learn Rust?

When did I say he wasn’t allowed to learn Rust?

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