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We all know you can't "learn x programming language in a day" without travelling to the Arctic and catching a day that last half a year.

But what's the worst language to try and learn in a day?

I vote c++. Manual memory management, multiple inheritance, static compilation, operator overloading, and generally non-human syntax ( Like std::cout << "This is how you print!" << std::endl; ) make it a difficult one to attempt in a day.

Comments
  • 13
    It depends much on how you define learn.

    Many languages can be hard when you go deep.

    C++ is not to difficult for the very simple things but very difficult for complex generics.

    Mumps is supposed to be a blast :P
  • 4
    C++ seems like the best choice. I've heard from people working with it for years that they are still surprised by it daily.

    Another option are Esolangs, I guess. Most that I know are designed to be so non-intuitive that they also take a while to master.

    And then there's F*, which combines the clarity of functional programming with the need to prove correctness of your program during compilation.
  • 5
    Another good comtender would be Microsofts P or Q languages.

    Or Lisp.

    P is a language designed for mathematically verifiable programs using state machines and Q is for quantum computing.

    And list, well its lisp ;)
  • 6
    Or maybe machine code for some arcane hardware platform, where the only existing documentation has half its pages torn and the other half so stained with coffee that they're almost unreadable.
  • 0
    if all languages count: malbolge
    if only in real world applications used language: ABAP
  • 2
    DoD "learn"?
  • 0
  • 1
    @Voxera Isn't mumps a disease?
  • 0
  • 3
    How much do I need to know in a day to count as "have learnt"?

    Enough to write and execute a hello world?

    Enough to build business logic with the language?

    What's the level of knowledge we are constrained too here?
  • 1
    @PrivateGER Erlang is actually pretty easy if you had no contact with other languages.
    I had to learn it during my first semester on college and boy, that was a blast.
    Never had any contact with programming before, so Functional was pretty much math for me. Which was good.

    That said, after years working with C++ and Python, my knowledge went a bit rusty. I've been trying to learn some (went through Clojure, Elixir, Scala and F#) but to no avail.
  • 2
    @JFK422 It's also a programming language. People working with this language would prefer a severe case of the disease though.

    http://thedailywtf.com/articles/...
  • 0
    @C0D4 if I told you I need a system that did X, Y and Z (that can be fully made with the language), would you be able to? Doesn't need to be the best code out there, I just need it to work.

    I believe that's a start. At least, that's how I try to convince myself that I've learnt something new. :v
  • 1
    @DarkMelchiah Sure, it's just incredibly hard to learn it if you're used to traditional languages. You basically have to relearn all your processes.
  • 0
    @PrivateGER indeed. It's a whole different paradigm after all.does wonders once you master it, tho.
    Mathematically speaking, functional is godlike.
  • 0
    Fortran.
  • 0
    Brainfuck, or if we are talking about useful launguages: assembler.
  • 1
    Yeah sure {$Any_language}, because perl is a walk in the park
  • 3
    As much as I like C (well mostly), I hate C++ with a passion. Totally siding with Torvalds in that regard.
  • 0
    C++ programming with regular functions and classes would be medium difficulty. However, trying to learn the language with templates in a day would be more difficult. Templates are a completely different language inside of C++.
  • 1
    @JFK422 yes but its also a bad much used programing language in the american hospital system.
  • 0
    IMO, Assembly (kind of), Haskell, Brainf**k, esolangs are harder than C/C++.
  • 0
    Brainfuck is literally the easiest language that exists, creating something with it is just annoying.
  • 0
    @PrivateGER Why do you think that it is easy? It aint easy to memorise all those instructions so any other launguage that has more intuitive instructions is better.
  • 2
    @Gregozor2121 There are a total of six instructions. Basically no language is easier to learn. The only thing complex about it is working around the lack of advanced operations.
  • 0
    I vote for language constructs, keywords and concepts as a measurement. Deprecated not counting (as this would be a huge disadvantage to older languages). The problem with C++ for instance is that even if you read code that was written without a framework and just with what the standard lib provides you need a freaking study even when you come from C.
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