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Comment by mannjani | Hacker News Reader

I think that being a programmer is not about coding in a particular language. It's all about thinking differently thus his point about being a polyglot programmer does not seem to hold. For me programming is how would I solve a particular problem with the tools I have. Maybe an easier solution exists if I do a certain thing a certain way but it would be more satisfying for me if I come up with a solution my way.

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For me, having learnt to program in multiple different languages means I've learnt that being a programmer is more than syntax and given I've programmed from C++ to Ruby to Node.js that I've usually got (some) insight into the best language to tackle a particular problem.

Whether or not I'm correctly attributing this to having programmed in multiple languages I'm not sure, but it's certainly nice to be able to jump between things with a slightly smaller learning curve.

Learning different programming paradigms is of course a great practice however I'm not sure we can attribute that to learning different languages. I think for a good programmer choice of a programming language does not matter.

> I think for a good programmer choice of a programming language does not matter.

I disagree. I think an important part of being a programming is choosing the right tool for the job.

You might be able to build what you need using a hatchet to cut your lumber, but you will almost certainly end up with something much cruder than if you had chosen to use a saw.

So a good programmer should be able to get by with the tools he has, but should pick the best tool for the job when he has the option.

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