Do you like programming or YOUR programming?

This is a very interesting question that I've seen come up again and again; although I've never know the best way to express it until now. Out of all the languages listed below which ones can you not stand? If presented with that specific language to keep up; would you do it or would you quit? The question is, do you like Programming or do you like YOUR programming?

Perl

sub Example($) {
  print $_[0] . "\n";
}

Lisp

(defun Example (var)
  (print var))

C/C++

void Example(char *var) {
  printf("%s\n", var);
}

Java

class Temp {
  public void Example(String s) {
    System.out.println(s + "\n");
  }
}

If you looked at any of these languages and you said to yourself "I'd never program in that language" then you've just answered the question. Many of us developers are presented with a code base and are asked to make changes or to fix it. We normally don't have the ability to tell the client "well I can change it to language X in about 5 weeks if you'd like" because the client will say "what do I gain from this?" The answer is; well you get nothing extra but it will be easier to maintain. This then presents you with a big no because the client isn't going to pay you to rewrite an already running application into a language that you want (mainly because someone else will come along with this same statement).

We all have languages that we like; we all have languages that we're good at. This is true, but being scared of a specific language to the point that you would leave a job instead of program in it is just ludicrous. My point is not that you should seek out work in languages that you are not familiar with; but instead be open to working in different languages. The first step to working in an unfamiliar language is to find out how to do things that you would normally do in your known languages. NOTE: I do not condone going out and buying a book on the language and trying to cram it all in! Instead pick up on new ways of doing things as you are programming.

One of the big pitfalls that I've seen is someone coming into a team with programming knowledge. They then try to apply their previous programming experiences to a language that you might not know. Because this is the case, always listen to your teammates on how to better work in the language. Also, if you believe that your way of programming is getting ridiculed and you feel it is better than the way being suggested you should stand up for your way. Now be open to change and listen to why someone is making the argument that your way is bad/inefficient etc... Make sure to get them to explain why their way is better (and yes understandability is a feasible reason for example a .foreach() method rather than for(int...) {}).

So why bring this up? I have a coworker who is a DBA in MySQL who is going to be leaving. They have always been a huge proponent of DB2; always trying to get the entire organization to DB2. Now, the company I work for is not a small 50 person group; I work for a medium 500 person who just got bought out by a 100k person corporation. The problem with pushing these types of changes is that once you grow so large the company is not going to do a massive huge change just because someone feels that they can better manage a DB2 instance. This would require every application we use to be changed from MySQL to DB2 connectors which would be quite a large problem since almost every application we have developed is in C. We already have MySQL libraries that are well tested and work well; so having to switch to DB2 would be a huge change that the company was not wanting to risk.

So now my coworker is leaving because they didn't get their way. So how does this relate to my original example? Well think about this; it's not just dealing in programming where you shouldn't be afraid of working with new languages. Instead, you should always be open to work in new applications and expand your horizons. You come from a completely Windows shop and get hired as a Linux administrator. Don't be afraid, pick up that Linux administration book and install a copy at home. Play with it, break it, fix it, learn it. The way I see it, we as technology professionals should always be willing and eager to learn about new features in the technology field and not just limit our learning to ONLY our specific field. That's right, if your a Linux admin go learn something about networking or Windows administration. If you're a developer, go learn something about networking or host administration. If you're a DBA who works with DB2, go pick up a copy of Oracle or MySQL and see how they compare; maybe you'll find something interesting from that other piece of software that you would like better.