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For 2023 (and 2024 ...) - we are now fully retired from IT training.
We have made many, many friends over 25 years of teaching about Python, Tcl, Perl, PHP, Lua, Java, C and C++ - and MySQL, Linux and Solaris/SunOS too. Our training notes are now very much out of date, but due to upward compatability most of our examples remain operational and even relevant ad you are welcome to make us if them "as seen" and at your own risk.

Lisa and I (Graham) now live in what was our training centre in Melksham - happy to meet with former delegates here - but do check ahead before coming round. We are far from inactive - rather, enjoying the times that we are retired but still healthy enough in mind and body to be active!

I am also active in many other area and still look after a lot of web sites - you can find an index ((here))
Speaking all the languages

Phil Staiger, who talks about Tips and Techniques with Project Dogwaffle, can speak (as I recall) at least six languages. Working for an American company (Megatek) out of San Diego, his role as roving technical expert had taken him all over the world, and had him talking with people from many countries. I recall a great admiration when, across in California to learn the technical stuff company's graphics products and libraries so that I could take over the European support, I watched him switch from Spanish to English to French in successive sentences. I really wondered how he did it and all the technical stuff too.

I understand English (and write it only up to the standard you'll find in these jottings), and I have a smattering of French. I always struggled with Latin at school until allowed to drop it, after which the struggle ceased. I did no more than wonder about learning Swedish at one point. The motivation, incredibly, was a work role and not a blonde, but that is a story for another day.

Any yet I find myself programming and switching - "á la philip" - from Perl to PHP, then a bit of Tcl and some C before doing a bit of awk and perhaps ruby.. Looking at Philip's web site and links, I see he's talking Lua with Dogwaffle and, sure, I can do the Lua thing too. So - somehow - I'm on the other side of the fence with this switching capability that baffles others and people ask "how do you do it".

I'm afraid the answer is a very simple one.

All programming languages are based on the same underlying concepts. For sure, they're all implemented differently, but you've still got variables, and blocks, and conditionals and sequences of statements. Named pieces of code, loops, and some sort of collections. An ability to load more bits of code, shared between programs, from common files. A way to add comments to your code, and ways to read information in and write it back out. I'm suggesting that you could say there is really only one language - it's just implemented with a different set of grammars, and basic elements that are tuned very differently ... thus giving rise to languages which are strong in one area or another, and providing foundations on which you can ideally build one type of application or another.

You see ... really ... I still just know one language. It's the language of programming. Now Phil - he's clever - he knows the language of speech in depth too.
(written 2009-01-12, updated 2009-01-13)

 
Associated topics are indexed as below, or enter http://melksh.am/nnnn for individual articles
Q102 - Choosing your language
  [76] Learning to program in - (2004-10-07)
  [2001] I have not programmed before, and need to learn - (2009-01-19)
  [2048] Learning to program in PHP, Python, Java or Lua ... - (2009-02-19)
  [2507] Admission - (2009-11-19)
  [2535] When should I use Java, Perl, PHP, or Python? - (2009-12-13)
  [2536] All the Cs ... and Java too - (2009-12-13)
  [2700] The same very simple program in many different programming languages - (2010-03-31)
  [2866] Ruby - how does it compare and where is it the right language? - (2010-07-11)
  [3169] Rekeying a table - comparison in #Ruby #Perl and #Python - (2011-02-14)
  [3558] Python or Lua - which should I use / learn? - (2011-12-21)
  [3619] Ruby v Perl - a comparison example - (2012-02-21)
  [3764] Shell, Awk, Perl of Python? - (2012-06-14)
  [3785] Programming languages - what are the differences between them? - (2012-06-27)

G908 - Well House Consultants - Language Comparisons
  [209] FAQ - Perl or PHP - (2005-02-11)
  [1582] Ruby, C, Java and more - getting out of loops - (2008-03-19)
  [1717] Q - Should I use Perl or Python? - (2008-07-23)
  [2755] Books in the store in the USA - still a portent of the UK market to come? - (2010-05-08)
  [2947] Teaching Lua to a Perl advocate - (2010-09-06)
  [3003] What will we be teaching in six years? - (2010-10-17)
  [3112] Public and private courses - subjects available for 2011 - (2010-12-29)


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Speaking all the languages
So sad to see you go
Melksham, Wiltshire. Town Crier Competition, 2009
One Cheer for Local Democracy - Asda in Melksham
Walk to Bowerhill
Learning to program as a part of your job
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This is a page archived from The Horse's Mouth at http://www.wellho.net/horse/ - the diary and writings of Graham Ellis. Every attempt was made to provide current information at the time the page was written, but things do move forward in our business - new software releases, price changes, new techniques. Please check back via our main site for current courses, prices, versions, etc - any mention of a price in "The Horse's Mouth" cannot be taken as an offer to supply at that price.

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