At least if you want to properly learn the language...
At least if you want to properly learn the language...
The hard stuff is problem solving, understanding algorithms and their applicability, implementing and using data structures, how computers work, how they represent types and resources, how networks work, network protocols, databases, processes, threading, asynchronous coding etc. All of this knowledge is mostly independent from programming language and platforms and will apply from one language to another. Learning the syntax of a programming language is trivial when compared to other programming topics.
If Ruby and Ruby on Rails dies tomorrow or Python and Django or whatever, and you know of the things I just mentioned picking up the next thing should be not be a difficult task. I don't really care what language someone already knows when it comes to hiring. If you don't know JavaScript, but you know Ruby or Java or C#, and you understand Computer Science, have demonstrated being able to write working code and are not afraid to ask questions picking JavaScript on the job is OK with me. We'll do code reviews, explains things, get you going.
Yeah, and knowing which libraries to use to do all that stuff and what quirks they have.
That type of knowledge doesn't translate overnight between programming ecosystems. It takes years.
It's almost worse when the stack is new because there is so much of the wheel that has to be reinvented again.
Drats, as I was writing this, someone did: