I'm currently taking a course that is called "Programming Language Pragmatics" but could just as easily have been called "Survey of Programming Languages," or something similar. We're basically discussing various programming languages, and then writing simple programs as a method of learning the idiosyncrasies of how different languages are implemented. So far, we've done COBOL, Ruby, Python, and F#. Since I have a penchant for being outspoken, I thought this would be a good time to rant discuss my opinion(s) so far.

COBOL

I can only say this: Thank you, ANSI. Learning your language left me feeling like my I.Q. just dropped at least 10 points...

Ruby

I can sum up my feelings about Ruby in one word: Meh. Honestly. What is all the fuss about Ruby coming from? I can only guess that it's a Rails thing. I didn't do a Ruby-on-Rails application. I wrote a simple Ruby console app. And it was BORING. And irritating. Man, do I hate that coding style...

Python

I haven't actually written my Python project yet, but I did have the misfortune of having to become a little bit familiar with it a few months ago. If you want to know how I feel about Python, you'll have to IM me, because what I would say is unprintable here. I can sum up my feelings about Python in one word, though: ugh. Why does anyone think that a white-space aware language that uses indents to define code blocks is a good thing? HUH? Bleh...

F#

Holy crap. That's all I can say. F# broke my brain. I cannot code in functional programming languages. It's not a matter of "I don't want to." It is a matter of "Ow, ow, oh, please make the bad man go away." I have never been so frustrated in my life, and that's saying something...

So there you have it. So far, none of these pretenders can even hold a candle to my beloved C#.

:]