LESSWRONG
LW

All of edgeArchitect's Comments + Replies

What is the best programming language?
edgeArchitect11y-2

"But poorly put-together sentences do detract from a message, irrational as that may be." Why is it irrational?

"The most rational behaviour a rationalist can have is to be rational." Meditate on it some more.

"...my objection that knowing three programming languages is not a requirement of rationality..." I said at least three, because there are at least three ways to do the same thing. Some are more efficient at one thing and others are more efficient at other things.

"Given that human rationality is a subject still being ... (read more)

What is the best programming language?
edgeArchitect11y0

Exactly, it's all about the concepts underlying the tool and recognizing situations when a certain tool has a better ROI than some other one at solving a problem at hand.

But, sometimes it can be hard to make a fair judgement on whether you really know something or just think that you know. So, it might definitely be useful to know a few other techniques/tools of doing the same thing in order to foolproof yourself.

What is the best programming language?
edgeArchitect11y-2

I am not a native English speaker, but I think I'm versed well enough to know that you know what I meant to say. I also do think that it is a little bit unfair for you to mention my grammar and punctuation since you yourself use words like "caps" and "Wellllll". Not only it is hypocritical, but also comes across as a Stickman argument of a sort.

I'm sorry for pointing this out. But, I mean, you are partially right, I do think that sometimes, when working with complex concepts, the language needs to be pretty clear for a common understa... (read more)

0atorm11y
Knowing you are not a native English speaker makes me even more inclined to forgive your errors (notice that I did not criticize your grammar until you asked), since you are correct in observing that they did not seriously interfere with comprehension. But poorly put-together sentences do detract from a message, irrational as that may be. "The most rational behaviour a rationalist can have is to be rational." What does this even mean? And how does it relate to my objection that knowing three programming languages is not a requirement of rationality, or of contributing valuably to this community? Given that human rationality is a subject still being explored, making a definitive claim that something is a key requirement of rationality is incredibly arrogant in the face of ignorance. Finally, I didn't say that languages are nothing. I said they aren't exercises. And I'm pretty sure they aren't going to feel insulted.
What is the best programming language?
edgeArchitect11y0

I don't mind scepticism, if you see anything wrong with the content other than letters do let me know please.

5atorm11y
Welllllll, since you asked: "do 'lesswrong'" "LessWrong" is not a verb. One could be less wrong, or one could exemplify the qualities encouraged by LessWrong, but one doesn't do lesswrong/LessWrong. "Lisp, Prolog, Haskell any of these" is a sentence fragment. I'll accept a sentence fragment under poetic license, but add a comma after "Haskell" to match the spoken pause. I think the community's objection to your post stems from the now frowned-upon sentiment that there are behaviors that are absolutely required to fit in in this community or, especially, to be a rationalist. I personally thought it was especially silly that you insist on "at least 3" programming languages. Also, programming languages aren't exercises in logic/rationality. Programming may be an exercise in logic and rationality, but programming languages are languages. They aren't exercises in anything.
What is the best programming language?
edgeArchitect11y0

Sure they are, but the amount of variables in those can be overwhelming for one and some of what you've listed may be based on flawed logic. So, I would not suggest starting out with those.

I think programming is great because it can potentially teach you how to break things down into different levels of abstraction and manipulate concepts by applying only a few basic rules.

I should've contributed a little bit more to the OP, but I was mostly replying to those who were saying that there is no difference between languages and one is just is good as the other. That I think is wrong because you can't compare a real functional language with an "object oriented" one.

2atorm11y
Does anyone else automatically mistrust sentences with single words in all caps?
Desrtopa11y10

Similarly, Go, Magic: The Gathering, PredictionBook, and PUA are exercises in rationality, so naturally participating in all of those is also a necessity.