what is better? knowing so many programming languages at average level or knowing one programming language at best?!

Answer 1

knowing a single programming language is best, knowing so much you can exceptionally present a really good code and past work to people like employers with confidence is really my key goal. knowing so many programming languages won't necessarily help if you only know it averagely especially if you're trying to get a job. outside of jobs, the same opinion goes if you're planning to be successful maintaining a blog displaying an expert how-to which i think many people could commend you for ^_^

Answer 2

My assumption is that you should have a main programming language that you use and are exceptional in using, and at least a basic, beyond amateur, understanding of other languages.

I'd like to hear from someone who knows for certain, as well.

Answer 3

If you have a specific goal in mind then it's best to specialise in one language that is relevant to your career choice (i.e. if you know that you want to be a Web designer then it's probably not ideal mastering Visual Basic or if you want to be a games creator then don't spend time trying to master css). But in a lot of jobs you'll often find that you need to understand the basics of programming (like variable types, looping, how to interact with the user, memory management etc.) as you may be asked to work in more than one language based on what your customers want. Sometimes you may need to write code for the web, sometimes a database, sometimes a mapping app etc. and you may be told that the program has to be compatible with existing tech or has to be updated by somebody that doesn't know x language etc.

If you have a good grasp of the concepts behind programming it's then a case of just learning the syntax needed for each project. You'll always find that you're better in one language than the others though but you often need to try quite a few of them before you find the one that really works for you.

Answer 4

A mix of the two. A great example of this is the Linux kernel source code. I have not read it in many years but I keep hearing from friends that it uses concepts from OOP as well as from FP.

The kernel hackers are undoubtedly some of the best C programmers alive. They also had to know enough from other languages or their overarching concepts to borrow from there at the right time to implement those concepts as abstraction in C for the benefit of fellow kernel hackers.

There are many more such examples. GCC used to have a lisp for one of it's intermediate representations. GNOME, Gimp, GTK, and many more do similar things. While heavily using one language, liberally borrowing from other paradigms and other languages.

So the best answer is, a healthy mix of both.