Re: strategies for learning new languages

[Michael Schuerig <address@hidden>]

On Wednesday 26 March 2003 23:58, Vadim Nasardinov wrote:
> To follow up on the "learning languages" thread
> (http://www.ai.mit.edu/~gregs/ll1-discuss-archive-html/threads.html#0
>2557), I'd be interested to hear resident polyglots comment on the
> following question.
>
>   What strategies do you use for becoming proficient in a new
>   language?

Find a problem that can be better solved in the new language than in the 
ones I already know.

This strategy worked very well for me when I learned Ruby three years 
ago. Ruby became my scripting language of choice. I learned Haskell a 
year ago (and forgot most of it again), although I didn't have a 
problem at hand. Currently, I'm stumbling around with Common Lisp and 
have no clear idea what to do with it. I hope it works out for O'Caml 
and Mozart some time in the future.

Michael

-- 
Michael Schuerig                 Nothing is as brilliantly adaptive
mailto:schuerig@acm.org          as selective stupidity.
http://www.schuerig.de/michael/  --A.O. Rorty, "The Deceptive Self"