# How Many Programming Languages Are You Fluent In? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 10, 2007, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184 "2007-10-10T06:45:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 6:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/1 "2007-10-10T06:45:16Z")
Several people commented on their programming language knowledge in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=439571) so it seemed like it would be fun to let us all go. HTML, CSS, etc. don’t count. And you only need to have _at one time_ been proficient for it to count. Myself: x86 assembler C C++ D (soon) Perl Java SQL (Postgres, Oracle, MySQL) VBScript/ASP (but not .NET) PHP Javascript/DHTML Make QBasic Lua Bash shell script ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/2 "2007-10-10T07:38:28Z")
C Perl Common Lisp Scheme Emacs Lisp (GNU Emacs, dunno about XEmacs) Objective-C Pilot (… not that that’s anything to be proud of) GW-BASIC (hey, it beats Pilot) QBasic (came with Windows 95) Python Ruby Fortran (various dialects, mostly FORTRAN-77) Parrot assembly x86 assembly PDP-8 assembly (Turing tarpit, where everything is possible but nothing of interest is easy. Weird, weird computer.) PDP-11 assembly (Simple. Orthogonal. Love it.) VAX assembly (Polynomial-solving opcodes. Think about it.) Bourne shell (bash and zsh mostly) BEZ Java (not AspectJ or anything else, though) Javascript (which is not related to Java at all) Make CORC and CUPL (two very similar crufty old teaching languages) Brainfuck If I were to list languages I can write with a short reference to hand, the list would include Lua and System/360 assembly and some others. I can read COBOL but my hands would attempt to strangle me if I tried to write anything substantial in it. ---
**Author:** ![dgrdfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@dgrdfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dgrdfd)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 7:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/3 "2007-10-10T07:39:09Z")
I would feel comfortable writing applications in: C C++ Java Motorola 68000 assembly DXL [edit] Holy crap I feel inadequate now. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/4 "2007-10-10T07:48:32Z")
**dgrdfd** : Learning programming languages is easy. C, C++, and Java, for example, will take you a good deal of the way to learning Perl, Python, Ruby, and Lua. Motorola 68000 assembly was explicitly based on PDP-11 and VAX assembly, so you have a foothold there as well. Offhand I’ve never heard of DXL. Learning new paradigms is difficult. People who use Common Lisp approach problems much differently compared to people who use Java, for example. Switching gears from one paradigm to another can cause much thrashing about. ---
**Author:** ![TokyoBayer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tokyobayer/32/13989_2.png) [@TokyoBayer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TokyoBayer)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 7:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/5 "2007-10-10T07:53:11Z")
None. I bailed out of engineering after I got the degree and I’m a sale and marketing manager now. ---
**Author:** ![dgrdfd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/eb8c5e/32.png) [@dgrdfd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dgrdfd)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/6 "2007-10-10T07:54:29Z")
[QUOTE=Derleth] **dgrdfd** : Learning programming languages is easy. C, C++, and Java, for example, will take you a good deal of the way to learning Perl, Python, Ruby, and Lua. Motorola 68000 assembly was explicitly based on PDP-11 and VAX assembly, so you have a foothold there as well. Offhand I’ve never heard of DXL. Learning new paradigms is difficult. People who use Common Lisp approach problems much differently compared to people who use Java, for example. Switching gears from one paradigm to another can cause much thrashing about. [/QUOTE] Yeah, I guess I am still pretty new and haven’t really had the need for a lot of different programming languages yet. The DXL stands for DOORS Extension Language. DOORS is a requirements management tool we use at work and DXL can greatly simplify your life if you use DOORS. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/7 "2007-10-10T07:57:50Z")
[QUOTE=TokyoPlayer] None. I bailed out of engineering after I got the degree and I’m a sale and marketing manager now. [/QUOTE] Pointy-hair. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Angua](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8baadc/32.png) [@Angua](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Angua)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 7:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/8 "2007-10-10T07:59:55Z")
Perl, FORTRAN, IDL, bash and csh. ---
**Author:** ![NinetyWt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/cc9497/32.png) [@NinetyWt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NinetyWt)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 8:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/9 "2007-10-10T08:12:24Z")
I’m probably showing my age here, but I cut my teeth on Fortran (on punch cards!) and grudgingly learned Basic a few years later, back when them new-fangled Personal Computers arrived. That’s about it. ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/10 "2007-10-10T08:17:05Z")
At some time I have used all of the following – professionally unless otherwise noted: IBM Macro-assembler, PDP-11 Assembler (college only) APL (college only) (ba)sh, (t)csh, DOS “shell” langauge yacc, “more” PHP, Perl, ASP VisualBasic (blech… :o) JavaScript XSL/XSD (xml file parsing/definition) C, C++, Java Fortran BASIC (sigh…) SQL, PL-SQL, HQL, JDO-QL (the latter two are ORM overlays on top of SQL) ---
**Author:** ![3acresandatruck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/e79b87/32.png) [@3acresandatruck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3acresandatruck)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 9:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/11 "2007-10-10T09:11:51Z")
IBM 360 Assembler Fortran Pascal PL/1 COBOL Basic clist ReXX csh DL/I SQL PL-SQL ---
**Author:** ![Noone\_Special](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/noone_special/32/2863_2.png) [@Noone\_Special](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noone_Special)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 9:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/12 "2007-10-10T09:15:20Z")
[QUOTE=Noone Special] … “more” … [/QUOTE] The Hell!? 😕 I meant “Make”. Sorry. Also, I remembered another one… Pascal. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/13 "2007-10-10T09:39:24Z")
Cobol Fortran Basic Pascal Of course in my day there was a 24 hour turnround before you got your job back from the mainframe. And I used to be pretty good at deciphering hexadecimal dumps (ah, there’s the registers, now what caused the crash?) ---
**Author:** ![Baron\_Greenback](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baron_greenback/32/48_2.png) [@Baron\_Greenback](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baron_Greenback)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/14 "2007-10-10T10:32:02Z")
[QUOTE=glee] And I used to be pretty good at deciphering hexadecimal dumps (ah, there’s the registers, now what caused the crash?) [/QUOTE] I used to enjoy doing that, and a two-foot thick pile of stripy paper covered in hex was always a useful tool to ward off anxious management when something had crashed. Oh happy days… ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/15 "2007-10-10T10:33:47Z")
APL Assembly Basic C C# csh FlexPDE Forth Mathematica PL1 SAS Scheme VB And, yo, Derleth, are you really fluent in brainfuck? Is it possible to be??? ---
**Author:** ![jovan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/0ea827/32.png) [@jovan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jovan)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 10:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/16 "2007-10-10T10:35:12Z")
GW-Basic (back in the days…) C C++ Objective C (working on it…) Java Javascript Max (The multimedia visual programming language) Puredata CSound Supercollider The last three are specialized with Max and Puredata differing the most from the traditional form of a programming language, but visual languages (like Labeview) should count I think. ---
**Author:** ![si\_blakely](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@si\_blakely](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/si_blakely)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/17 "2007-10-10T11:47:47Z")
ZX-80/81 Basic Z80 Assembler Basic 6502 Assembler 6809 Assembler ICL COBOL FORTRAN Pascal Modula-2 DOS Batch X86 Assembler Z8000 Assembler Prolog csh C/C++ Visual Basic/.NET Perl awk/sed Python bash php kix Rexx tcl keykit (midi programming language) Many of these are scripting tools, but qualify as useful languages as well. Languages I completely failed to understand include: LISP SmallTalk Si ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/18 "2007-10-10T12:07:05Z")
Basic FORTRAN CMS-2M C PL/1 Ada C++ Java Several diffferent instruction sets (~5) Of those, I am most comfortable with C/C++ ---
**Author:** ![Small\_Clanger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9fc348/32.png) [@Small\_Clanger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Small_Clanger)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/19 "2007-10-10T12:11:32Z")
[QUOTE=Napier] yo, Derleth, are you really fluent in brainfuck? Is it possible to be??? [/QUOTE] I bet it’s not on his(?) CV (and he missed out Whitespace, surely everyone knows that?) X86 assembly C Bourne shell script, awk, sed (I’ve edited make files I wouldn’t say I fully understood them) Pro\*C PL/SQL SQL Oracle Forms ☹ and Reports :eek: \*\*\*\*\* Have worked in Java and C# but I’m not _proficient_ in them. \*\*\*\*\* I suppose they’re tools or IDEs really (I don’t know if they’d qualify as 4GLs) but there’s a lot in them that isn’t just PL/SQL ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2007, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184/20 "2007-10-10T12:49:21Z")
Basic, Qbasic & VB Fortran Cobol CL RPG & RPGLE (my strong suit) PML My SQL is weak. That’s it, I am a boring business programmer that supports ERP. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-many-programming-languages-are-you-fluent-in/422184.md?page=2)