Although every Turing-complete language is capable of doing the same thing eventually, each one has its own purpose, design, philosophy, and so on. No matter which programming language you choose, learning only one can limit your ability to design and engineer programs.
These languages have a variety of design principles and are widely used. These languages can be used in production or not. You can still learn from them and improve your programming skills. This post will share some of the valuable aspects I see in these languages and offer some project ideas that can help you practice and learn them.
Python
Advantages:
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Syntax simplicity. Python’s simplicity of syntax is one reason it is so popular. Python’s syntax is a visual representation of the basic programming structures. This makes it easy to get started with programming.
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Rapid prototyping. For fast prototyping, a good scripting language is a great tool. It is possible to quickly test out new ideas, modify them, and then review them. This allows you to get a better design.
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You can build tools for just about anything. Python is well-suited for building useful tools that can be used every day or once. Python’s extensive standard library and many well-designed community packages make it easy to build automated tools for nearly all scenarios.
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Data science. Packages like SciPy and Scikit-Learn, TensorFlow and TensorFlow have made Python the most popular language for data science over the past decade. Data science and machine learning can be viewed as a new programming paradigm. Python could lead this transition.
Ideas for projects:
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Web scrapper. With Python and libraries like beautifulsoup4, you can create a web scrapper which finds, parses and saves information from the Internet. Write a program that fetches the information you need.
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Machine learning application. Machine learning and data science are very popular topics these days. There are many tutorials that address specific machine learning issues in the documentation for popular machine learning libraries like scikit–learn or PyTorch.
TypeScript / JavaScript
Advantages:
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Functional programming. Functional programming does not just rely on functions. Functional programming is a programming paradigm that processes data using a clear flow of data transformations. This simplifies the way you think about programming logic. JavaScript is not the most functional language but it’s easy to get used to.
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Type system. Both JavaScript and Python practice duck typing. This is a useful practice, but a stricter and more static type system offers better code completion, faster optimization and clearer type architecture. TypeScript extends JavaScript by adding an object-oriented type system. This demonstrates the practical benefits of a good type scheme.
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Asynchronous programming. JavaScript’s interactive use cases are event-driven. JavaScript relies on callback-style asynchronous programming. This style of asynchronous programming influenced the way I/O and server program writing later on, when promise/async/await was a thing. JavaScript’s asynchronous programming makes it easy to understand and reason about. This gives you a great opportunity to explore the world of async.
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Modules and dependencies. The module system of JavaScript is now a modern approach, starting with ES6. The module and packaging systems of JavaScript, along with npm’s approach to managing dependencies and packages, are a major inspiration for and influence on later programming languages.
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Multiple runtime environments. JavaScript is one language that can run everywhere. This allows JavaScript to be used in a wider range of areas and allows it to absorb innovative ideas from different areas.
Ideas for projects:
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Data visualization. JavaScript can be used to create a flow between data and visual elements like SVG. A clear flow of data is a key element in functional programming. The result should be interesting.
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A small in-browser gaming game. You can make a fun, but small, in-browser JavaScript game, whether you are able to manipulate DOM or draw on an HTML page.
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Full-stack web application. JavaScript allows you to write programs in the same language on both sides. You can create a web server using Node.js or Deno. This code will be used in conjunction with browser code to fetch data from the web server. You may need some frameworks (express, React, etc.)To simplify the process, however, you can only use one language to complete it.
C
Advantages:
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Similar philosophy as Unix. Unix-like systems, which are widely used and well designed, are a good example of Unix. These systems are all written in C and follow a philosophy or culture that encourages the creation of programs that do one thing well. C shares many of the same thoughtful principles as Unix which makes it worthwhile to learn.
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C code is closer to the bare machine. C code does not have any mysterious background work, such as garbage collection. Everything is directly related with some mechanism of an underlying machine. This gives you complete control over your program and allows you to learn how to better manage it.
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It is easy to understand the compilation process. It is important to be able to understand the execution and compilation details of a language. This will help you write better programs.
Ideas for projects:
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Learn Unix programs. You can learn a lot from the best programmers by looking at their code.
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Create a shell program. Computer Systems: A Programmer’s Perspective contains these and other project ideas. This book provided many projects that allowed readers to put into practice the knowledge they have gained about computer systems. One of these projects is to create a shell that supports signal handling, process management, and other functions. It is easier to understand operating systems when you learn how to write it in C.
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Create a proxy. A proxy is a program that acts as a middleman between client and server, to monitor, filter or otherwise process all network traffic of another program. Similar to the previous project, it is also a book project for educational purposes. This can help you gain access to computer networks.
Rust
Advantages:
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Memory management. You will see that the previous languages, such as JavaScript, C and Python, either assume full responsibility for memory management (through garbage collection) or you, the programmer, take on this responsibility. Rust uses a different approach. Rust will give you control over your memory but in a safe and controlled manner. Safety is an important concern. However, this new method of managing memory can give you a new way to look at your data while you program. As you’ll soon discover, the more you understand your data, the more proficient you’ll be at programming.
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Type system. Type systems are no longer about treating everything as an object after years of development. It is about controlling the behavior and shapes of the various constructs in a computer program, such as expressions, variables, functions, and expressions. This ensures that the entire program (and programmer) has the same understanding of the data. Rust uses a modern view of type system to model data and operations. It has a solid algebra background and is in many ways superior to object-oriented programming. You can learn the Rust method (enums and pattern matching, traits, generics), to help you create programs with high awareness and confidence.
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API design. Rust’s type system, which features traits and algebraic types of data types, allows 90% of requirements to be modelled in an easy and elegant manner. This allows us to express our ideas more directly through our design and create APIs that are simpler and more ergonomic. We need to make the type system more complicated in order to model the remaining 10%. This may compromise the simplicity of the API design. Rust takes a backward step and uses macros to reduce complexity. Rust is an excellent language for API design because of all these design choices.
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Toolchain. The toolchain is what makes Rust stand out among other languages. Clippy, miri and rust-analyzer all make up a tight, compact ecosystem. It is intuitive and powerful from a user’s point of view, but well-structured, extensible and flexible from the language’s.
Ideas for projects:
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Multi-thread/async web server. The final project in the book is a multithread web server. It demonstrates Rust programming using a small example. This project is a good example of how to learn actix web, warp and axum. You can do the same thing.
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Benchmark Unix programs and rewrite them. While learning from C programs is great, redesigning them in Rust to achieve the same performance as C programs can be difficult. You will gain a lot of knowledge by using the Rust/Cargo benchmarking and testing tools.
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Compiler. Learn how to use Rust to create a C compiler (or a modified/simplified version of C). You can then invent your own language and implement it. You will learn more about programming languages, the design options, and the trade-offs.
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Data structure library. While writing executable programs is mostly about implementation, designing a library requires more. Start with a basic library that implements one type of data structure. Although it will take time to implement the right data structure, you’ll soon find yourself thinking about its API design. You can think about its uses and iterate on the design until you get a consistency feel with the standard library, or similar crates.
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Bevy game. Bevy shows how Rust can be used to support completely different programming paradigms. You can use bevy to create a simple or multi-player game that supports network support.
Many languages are still worth learning, but they are not listed here. Scala, C# Swift, Swift, Swift, Java, Kotlin and more. At WorldPlay digital we have a team of experts who know which language/s would best fit for each development project we take up. So if you have a project idea and would to get it built. Contact us today to see how we can give your company an edge in the market.
