A friend asked me what my favorite language is today, and showed me a page about parallels drawn between computer languages and religons. I told him I didn’t have a favorite language anymore. I did once upon a time, and that language was C++. But the reason it was my favorite language was because it was the only language I knew at the time. Well, not really, I knew 1 other language, PHP, but I didn’t use it much, so it was still C++.

Now, after working for about a year now, I realized that different languages are useful for different things, much like a hammer is useful for hammering nails, but not a screwdriver. The theory is that you can use a screwdriver to hammer nails too, but it wouldn’t be as effective as a hammer. The same thing applies to languages. C is good for writing OSes, and making some really fast code, but if you really don’t care and just want a script that reads a bunch of files and makes a list of filenames and e-mails it to someone, you could just use Python. Going by that analogy, you could think of each language you know as a tool in your toolbox, and the time you take to learn those languages is as well invested as the money you use to buy your hammer and sickle.

Most people have a favorite language because of the same reason I once did, because its the only language they know well. But, sometimes it may be the language of choice for what they do too. Favoritism is something I can’t really find in the languages I know now. Perhaps there would be a language that would intrigue me enough someday to make me a believer of a favorite again?