Why learn Perl, Python, Ruby if the company is using C++, C# or Java as the application language?

For after work work, for freelance jobs...:) and final to be programming literate as possible as...;)

Towards answering the updated question, its a chicken/egg problem. The best way to justify an expense is to show how it reduces a cost somewhere else, so you may need to spend some extra/personal time to learn something first to build some kind of functional prototype.

Show your boss a demo like "hey, i did this thing, and it saves me this much time [or better yet, this much $$], imagine if everyone could use this how much money we would save"

and then after they agree, explain how it is some other technology and that it is worth the expense to get more training, and training for others on how to do it better.

Others have already explained why learning more languages makes you a better programmer.

As for convincing your boss it's worth it, this is probably just your company's culture. Some places make career and skill progress a policy (move up or out), some places value it but leave it up to the employee's initiative, and some places are very focused on the bottom line.

If you have to explain why learning a language is a good thing to your boss, my advice would be to stay at work only as long as necessary, then go home and study new things on your own.

I think the main benefits of dynamic languages can be boiled down to

1. Rapid development
2. Glue

The short design-code-test cycle time makes dynamic languages ideal for prototyping, tools, and quick & dirty one-off scripts. IMHO, the latter two can make a huge impact on a programmer's productivity. It amazes me how many people trudge through things manually instead of whipping up a tool to do it for them. I think it's because they don't have something like Perl in their toolbox.

The ability to interface with just about anything (other programs or languages, databases, etc.) makes it easy to reuse existing work and automate tasks that would otherwise need to be done manually.

Testing.

It's often quicker and easier to test your C#/Java application by using a dynamic language. You can do exploratory testing at the interactive prompt and quickly create automated test scripts.

The "real benefit" that an employer could see is a better programmer who can implement solutions faster; however, you will not be able to provide any hard numbers to justify the expense and an employer will most likely have you work on what makes money now as opposed to having you work on things that make the future better.


The only time you can get training on the employer's dime, is when they perceive a need for it and it's cheaper than hiring a new person who already has that skill-set.

Learning a new language is a long-term process. In a couple of days you'll learn the basics, yes. But! As you probably know, the real practical applicability of any language is tied to the standard library and other available components. Learning how to use the efficiently requires a lot of hands-on experience.

Perhaps the only immediate short-term benefit is that developers learn to distinguish the nails that need a Python/Perl/Ruby -hammer. And, if they are any good, they can then study some more (online, perhaps!) and become real experts.


The long-term benefits are easier to imagine:

1. The employee becomes a better developer. Better developer => better quality. We are living in a knowledge economy these days. It's wiser to invest in those brains that already work for you.

2. It is easier to adapt when the next big language emerges. It is very likely that the NBL will have many of the features present in today's scripting languages: first-class functions, closures, streams/generators, etc.

3. New market possibilities and ability to respond more quickly. Even if you are not writing Python, _other people are_. Your clients? Another vendor in the project? Perhaps a critical component was written in some other language? It will cost money and time, if you do not have people who can understand the code and interface with it.

4. Recruitment. If your company has a reputation of teaching new and interesting stuff to people, it will be easier to recruit the top people. _Everyone_ is doing Java/C#/C++. It is not a very effective way to differentiate yourself in the job market.

Knowing grep and ruby made it possible to narrow down a problem, and verify the fix for, an issue involving tons of java exceptions on some production servers. Because I threw the solution together in ruby, it was done (designed, implemented, tested, run, bug-fixed, re-run, enhanced, results analyzed) in an afternoon instead of a couple of days. I could have solved the same problem using an all-java solution or a C# solution, but it most likely would have taken me longer.

Having dynamic language expertise also sometimes leads you to simpler solutions in less dynamic languages. In ruby, perl or python, you just intuitively reach for associative arrays (hashes, dictionaries, whatever word you want to use) for the smallest things, where you might be tempted to create a complex class hierarchy in a statically typed language when the problem doesn't necessarily demand it.

Plus you can plug in most scripting languages into most runtimes. So it doesn't have to be either/or.

Dynamic languages are fantastic for prototyping ideas. Often for performance reasons they won't work for permanent solutions or products. _But_, with languages like Python, which allow you to embed standard C/C++/Java inside them or visa versa, you can speed up the really critical bits but leave it glued together with the flexibility of a dynamic language.

...and so you get the best of both worlds. If you need to justify this in terms of why more people should learn these languages, just point out much faster you can develop the same software and how much more robust the solution is (because debugging/fixing problems in dynamic languages is in my experience, considerably easier!).

If all you have is a hammer, every problem begins to look like a nail.

There are times when having a screwdriver or pair of pliers makes a complicated problem trivial.

Nobody asks contractors, carpenters, etc, "Why learn to use a screwdriver if i already have a hammer?". Really good contractors/carpenters have tons of tools and know how to use them well. All programmers should be doing the same thing, learning to use new tools and use them well.

> But before we use any power tools, lets
> take a moment to talk about shop safety. Be sure
> to read, understand, and follow all the
> safety rules that come with your power
> tools. Doing so will greatly reduce
> the risk of personal injury. And remember
> this: there is no more important rule
> than to wear these: safety glasses
-- Norm