An abridged history of my most significant experiences with programming languages, in somewhat chronological order

Python

• My first language.
• Not much to say. It was a good first language. but I eventually moved on when I wanted to write GUIs. Tk was intimidating

Java

• Love the libraries
• Hated how it forced you to program in a very abstraction heavy way, often wondered “where do you put the code that…does stuff?”

Web Languages: (PHP/JavaScript/etc)

• I loved the freedom that those languages gave me.
• This + the relative transparency of the browser programming environment + the amount of documentation out there allowed me to really improve at “Getting Things Done.”
• At the same time, that freedom brought out some of my worst traits as a programmer. Had a lot of bad experiences maintaining said code.

C

• Loved C because the way you programmed exposed more of what was really happening. I tend to be a bottom up thinker so I really enjoyed this.
• C had this element of ‘you have to pay attention or else you’ll fuck up’ that’s really engaging.
• Hated Make. Hated pthreads. Hated trying to use any library that I didn’t write myself. Eventually got burned so hard by C at an internship that I considered quitting the field all together. Yeah…

C++

• I used C++ with Qt for a Computer Graphics class and I actually loved it.
• Basically everything I loved about C with everything I loved about Java.
• I’d avoided C++ due to the complexity, but when anchored to a powerful library its kind of neat.

Languages I’m currently Learning

Go

• Love the fact that it prioritizes (enforces?) programming in a simple, K&R-esque style
• Love its extensive builtin networking/backend development libraries and features.
• Much more comfortable for me than most high level languages
• No issues with it so far.

Rust

• I was initially skeptical about Rust due to its C++ - like complexity, but the more I learn about it, the more I’m thinking that it could fulfill much of my needs of a language [as a backend/systems developer].
• The language is weird because on paper it connects all of the things I’ve enjoyed across very different languages, but it also has the complexity that I’ve been running from for years. Either way, I’m looking forward to figuring out what it really is.

To be honest, as I learn more about Rust, Go starts to look less interesting, but I still love that language too. The futures looking bright for a backend/systems developer :)