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Survey Results

Is there a (commonly used) programming language you would refuse to use?

Survey period: 4 Jun 2018 to 11 Jun 2018

You don't have to mention it by name

OptionVotes% 
Yes, absolutely16324.26
Yes, though maybe I wouldn't risk my job over it6810.12
There is a language I would fight very hard to avoid11817.56
There is a language I'd certainly prefer not to use14321.28
No, not really10715.92
Absolutely not. I'd use whatever language I was asked to work in7310.86



 
GeneralIt's not the language that's the problem... PinPopular
Sander Rossel5-Jun-18 21:25
professionalSander Rossel5-Jun-18 21:25 
But the programmers.
I started out in VB.Net and had to work in applications that were ported directly from VB6.
Yes, they were horrible, but after that we learned from made mistakes and created some nice VB.Net applications.
After that I got to work in a C# project that was probably even worse than the VB6 port application I had been working on.
The JavaScript in that C# application was so bad that it couldn't be minified and uglified because everything was global and it was already ugly.
And then I've seen some pretty decent JavaScript as well.

The lesson to be learned is that it's not the language that's the problem, it's the people that do not understand it.

That said, CSS is a real stinker.
JavaScript doesn't have a list type and to remove an element from an array you have to get the index of the element, then split the array into two on that index, skip an index and paste them back together again... WTF!?
But once you understand the limitation in JavaScript you can work with it and you can even create your own shortcut function for reuse. It will behave consistently.
CSS has a width property, but it doesn't set the width until certain conditions are met.
Setting width does not set width? WTF!?
What's worse, if you do want to meet the conditions it'll probably mess up your entire page (because now suddenly you have to set all the widths). WTF!?
Aligning stuff is the worst, you probably need to set four or five (sometimes unrelated) properties to have something align at all. WTF!?

Looking at the famous WTFs per minute CSS is a real winner for me.
A preprocessor like LESS or SCSS makes it a bit better, but not much.
Unfortunately, there is no alternative to style your web pages (that I know of) Frown | :(
So yeah, I wouldn't refuse to work in CSS or advice against it because I have no alternative.

I'd rather not work in a lot of languages, like Java or PHP, but that's because I'm not familiar with them, not because I think they're bad languages (well, I know they aren't as beautiful and elegant as .NET, but it can probably do all the same things) Big Grin | :-D

GeneralRe: It's not the language that's the problem... Pin
Carsten V2.06-Jun-18 22:11
Carsten V2.06-Jun-18 22:11 
GeneralRe: It's not the language that's the problem... Pin
Sander Rossel7-Jun-18 10:03
professionalSander Rossel7-Jun-18 10:03 
GeneralRe: It's not the language that's the problem... Pin
Carsten V2.07-Jun-18 11:55
Carsten V2.07-Jun-18 11:55 
GeneralHad to be "Absolutely not. I'd use whatever language I was asked to work in" Pin
CHill604-Jun-18 23:39
mveCHill604-Jun-18 23:39 
GeneralRe: Had to be "Absolutely not. I'd use whatever language I was asked to work in" Pin
Eddy Vluggen6-Jun-18 2:42
professionalEddy Vluggen6-Jun-18 2:42 
GeneralRe: Had to be "Absolutely not. I'd use whatever language I was asked to work in" Pin
Tencor Developer6-Jun-18 7:06
Tencor Developer6-Jun-18 7:06 
GeneralRe: Had to be "Absolutely not. I'd use whatever language I was asked to work in" Pin
Mycroft Holmes10-Jun-18 13:37
professionalMycroft Holmes10-Jun-18 13:37 
GeneralThe basic assumption.... Pin
Vivi Chellappa4-Jun-18 17:03
professionalVivi Chellappa4-Jun-18 17:03 
GeneralRe: The basic assumption.... Pin
Ammar_Ahmad6-Jun-18 19:28
Ammar_Ahmad6-Jun-18 19:28 
GeneralRe: The basic assumption.... Pin
Vivi Chellappa7-Jun-18 2:49
professionalVivi Chellappa7-Jun-18 2:49 
GeneralRe: The basic assumption.... Pin
2b1f9-Jun-18 17:25
2b1f9-Jun-18 17:25 
GeneralRe: The basic assumption.... Pin
Mycroft Holmes10-Jun-18 13:33
professionalMycroft Holmes10-Jun-18 13:33 
GeneralRe: The basic assumption.... Pin
Vivi Chellappa11-Jun-18 2:11
professionalVivi Chellappa11-Jun-18 2:11 
GeneralRe: The basic assumption.... Pin
Mycroft Holmes11-Jun-18 12:49
professionalMycroft Holmes11-Jun-18 12:49 
GeneralSalesforce Pin
1337Architect4-Jun-18 10:46
professional1337Architect4-Jun-18 10:46 
GeneralRe: Salesforce Pin
rriegel4-Jun-18 23:29
professionalrriegel4-Jun-18 23:29 
GeneralAny of the SQL languages Pin
Clifford Nelson4-Jun-18 6:23
Clifford Nelson4-Jun-18 6:23 
GeneralRe: Any of the SQL languages Pin
RickZeeland5-Jun-18 17:59
mveRickZeeland5-Jun-18 17:59 
GeneralRe: Any of the SQL languages Pin
Slacker0078-Jun-18 2:35
professionalSlacker0078-Jun-18 2:35 
GeneralRe: Any of the SQL languages Pin
#realJSOP8-Jun-18 6:30
mve#realJSOP8-Jun-18 6:30 
GeneralRe: Any of the SQL languages Pin
Clifford Nelson8-Jun-18 7:23
Clifford Nelson8-Jun-18 7:23 
GeneralThe whole xAMP stack Pin
kmoorevs4-Jun-18 3:52
kmoorevs4-Jun-18 3:52 
GeneralRe: The whole xAMP stack Pin
rriegel4-Jun-18 23:40
professionalrriegel4-Jun-18 23:40 
GeneralDoes Javascript Qualify? PinPopular
PeejayAdams4-Jun-18 2:46
PeejayAdams4-Jun-18 2:46 

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