Ask HN: If you could only code with one language which would it be?

C#

It has all you mentioned:

- C++ (Strong OOP + Static typing)

- SQL (LINQ)

- Java (Well, no comment here)

- JS (dynamic, async/await)

Clojure. Almost infinitely extensible.

Realistically, Python. Not because it's the best, but because it's the only language that I feel confident will have libraries/bindings for everything I need. Or as I've heard someone else put it, python is the second best choice in any situation.

C# I was a noobie programmer at the time and only programmed in C++ and php. I then experienced what it was like to truly love a programming language after I was employed to do a tiny project in C#

Ruby

C so I can work on most of the stack (and why not write my own languages if needed).

Kotlin. It has has great tooling with IntelliJ, loads of libraries in the JVM ecosystem, and Native/JS build targets are in the works. It's also far less verbose than Java.

Python. Its simplicity is unparalleled.

Ruby. By far the language I'm the most productive with.

JavaScript - Because it’s on the Web, Phones, Server, Embedded Decices, etc etc.

By having the widest array of hardware devices to build on, I’d have the opportunity to solve the widest scope of problems.

C, because I care about speed, program size, and multiple CPU architectures.

Or Stackly, a language I've been writing for nearly two years now. Like C, it's performant, compiles to tiny binaries (it maps fairly close to assembly under the hood), but unlike C it has a ref-counting GC, compile-time and runtime type safety.

    set [hello] fn 'displayln [Hello, World!]
    hello

I did used to care a lot more about community adoption or libraries, but less so today. If you're not dealing with protocols or encryption, and there is no library, and you can spare a month or two, then writing the library isn't a hard task. First fortnight to implement, six weeks to fuzz n fix.

But then, I've been forced to work with all sorts of estoric languages in my work, from PL1 to FORTH to Brainfuck, so my experience is unlikely to be the norm.

Python, because it's what I know best and what makes sense to me.

machine code. because you couldn't extend any higher level language if it needed it, since you wouldn't be able to write assembly >.>. you'd be stuck with 1 system forever, not being able to make use of any new cpu or hardware features etc.

Common Lisp. Why? [0]

[0]: http://p-cos.blogspot.in/2014/09/why-i-like-common-lisp.html

Common Lisp / Scheme are great to learn about programming languages themselves. think learning about closures in CL vs in ObjC and you will realize how simple concepts become awkward and secondarily builds your taste so you know engineer who prides in knowing C++ complexity is a fucking idiot.

Personally, CL has helped me quickly learn hard subjects (3D graphics), prototype software for open ended problems, etc etc.

And any given day, give me a language with live editing and updates, I hate the edit/compile/test cycle.

If this is a desert island-type scenario, haskell.

If I had actual time limits, python.

PHP, because it is simple, powerful, has bindings for everything, and the largest community with huge projects like Wordpress and Drupal. I know it isn't as trendy as python but all of the arguments made so far for python apply to php as well, and php is older and more widespread.

I'm a recent convert to the Church of Kotlin.

If you know Java, it takes a week or so before you're comfortable, and after that it's magical. All of the boilerplate, all of the tiny little frustrations and bad ergonomics, are just gone.

IntelliJ is a fantastic IDE, too, and I didn't bother picking it up until I started playing with Kotlin.

Kotlin compiles to JVM bytecode, and it runs everywhere I'm currently deploying applications. It can be mixed in with existing Java baselines, and interoperability is almost perfect.

Kotlin also cross-compiles to Javascript, and there's a new Native target, which I haven't played around with yet, but seems like a decent answer to Go's statically compiled, platform native, single binary output.

Lastly, there's an experimental feature that allows you to write one source base and target native, the JVM, and browsers. That finally gives me a single language that I can run anywhere that isn't Javascript.

Personally, I'd go for Rust.

It can do (most) everything that C can, but is (usually) a lot easier to work with.

I've thought about that for some time until it started to feel like a wrong question.

I usually wanted to code in one language to save learning many languages to an expert level. Also it felt good to have a uniform code on various levels of the system - something which today in JavaScript world is called "isomorphism". Then I realized I'm really doing different things in different layers, and in a big language I'll perhaps use different parts of the language - effectively several languages. For a small language I'll probably be creating necessary constructs first - again, different for needs of different layers - and then would use those.

Now I think it's better to have the ability to adjust language after the task, and here Lisps look rather good. Even more, with security in mind I want to use not only "language suited for the task", but "language minimally suited for the task", so it's hard to use it incorrectly and easy to reason about abilities of the particular software layer. Here, again, Lisp-like languages are a good platform. Some others languages suitable for DSL creation (Haskell? Tcl?) can also be good.

I've most extensive experience in Python but I choose Ruby. Then Rust, finally Go.

golang

If it absolutely had to be one thing for everything (including projects where I have to work closely with others), JavaScript. For solo stuff Clojure/script.

But please don’t let it come to this. I’m happiest as a polyglot.

What does this question even mean? Give me one language and I'll implement others as needed. Where do you draw the line between data format, template system, and "language"?

Which language would I choose if I could only code in one language for the rest of my life? English, of course. I can encode more meaning in English than those examples you gave, and that's my criteria. But I wouldn't blame someone else for choosing C if their criteria was how fast code written in that language could run on a PC, or Lisp if their criteria was building DSL's quickly, or Russian if their criteria was communicating with people living in Novosibirsk.

I am learning Swift this year. Surprised it hasn't been mentioned yet. I am hoping to make it is my main language, I doubt if you can live with only one language forever though.

My reasoning is that this is one language that you can use to write apps for MacOS and iOS possibly sharing some codebase. It doesn't run on VM, so should be faster. Swift Playgrounds got me interested in this especially the fact that it seems to work with a lot of toys like Mindstorms. It might even evolve to support server side dev. So I see it as decent investment.

Also people in Apple's ecosystem seems to spend more money on apps even with smaller market share of Apple. And really want to write apps that do something interesting as I am really bored with another CRUD webapp with pretty UI.