Can one successfully learn the following programming languages in 5 years?

Lokalaskurar

Posts: 513   +0
I'm in a pretty tricky situation, thus I need help from some really helpful TechSpot-members.

Situation: I'm about to graduate from (my equivalent of) High School, and I'll keep studying (at university level) for 5 more years. Thing is, I want to work at a company which requires "an advanced knowledge" in the following programming languages / system oriented languages:

C++, UNIX, PERL.

So I have about 5 years on my hands, can any fellow TechSpot-member share his/her experience in learning any of these programming languages?

Will it take more than 5 years for me to become really good with those?

I have some knowledge regarding C#, .bat-prompt, (X)HTML, CSS and JavaScript. Are these languages much different from the ones stated above?

I know the history of UNIX, and I have a version of the latest Ubuntu Linux installed on my PC. But I have never even written a single command in a UNIX-environment. As goes for PERL, truth is: I have no clue what even PERL is. :eek:

So all in all, could it be possible for me to become (roughly) advanced within these languages/environments in 5 years?

Any tips?
 
I would think that would depend on your learning ability. Another person can't judge that for you, only you can be the judge of that.
 
True... well I personally think that I might be able to cope with it.

Are there any tips on PERL and/or UNIX? Are they hard to understand compared to programming languages in general?
 
CAMusing is absolutely correct. It depends totally upon your interest, effort and aptitude for programming. Ask yourself "what kind of experience did I have getting this far? Was it interesting and rewarding? What level of 'expertise' do I believe I show with the languages I already know?"

After many years in this field, computer languages quickly merge into Compare and Contrast;
concepts are very similar and one begins to expect certain ideas to be repeated. The 'language' then falls into simple implementation issues.

You should now have seen two major 'styles' of programming
a) Procedural, aka JavaScript

b) Object Oriented, aka C++

(CSS is more akin to a rule specification and not a language per se)

Unix shell scripts are procedural and almost always self-contained (ie do not require other shell scripts).
Perl is primarily a web server CGI language and the grammar (imo) stinks - - however there's lots that can be borrowed in Open Source and it IS FAST.
PHP is a much better grammar and structure - - it reads well and thus becomes 'self-documenting'.

I would suggest a class or two at a community college near you to evaluate yourself and to
work with other and get there evaluations of your work. If you don't enjoy the process of learning, then I recommend you look for another field of work.
 
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