Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Does Company-Wide Language "Standardization" Work?

Posted by Cliff on from the one-language-to-bind-them dept.

RMX asks: "In our company, we're currently going through the debate of standardizing on a computer language for our next set of products. The pro-standardization guys say that a single language (like Java) will save everyone time. The anti-standardization guys are advocating a mixed environment (of languages like Python, Ruby, and C#), and argue that the whole discussion is as silly as a manufacturing firm standardizing on screwdrivers for all their screw/nail/glue fastening needs. Have any of your companies standardized on a language? How well did it go?"

11 of 654 comments (clear)

  1. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 4, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  2. We chose Java by Andrew+Tanenbaum · · Score: 5, Funny

    but then we weren't allowed to use SQL or XML anymore!!

  3. Hello Mr. Rumsfield by woolio · · Score: 3, Funny

    Problems and needs are naturally occurring things.

    They take on unforeseen forms with non-standard characteristics.

    Are you talking about the "known unknowns" and the "unknown unknowns" ????

  4. Re:thats just stupid by gmack · · Score: 4, Funny

    A few years ago the company I worked for was pretty much all PHP with a couple of projects in perl. I ended up taking over a project and redoing it in C. The downside of that was that when my boss saw that my C based app outdid the perl code it was supposed to replace and could be used to replace some of the PHP as well he started to want to standardize on it.

    I've never been quite as nervous as when I was asked if I could redo the websites in C.

    Thankfully we talked him out of it and he came to his senses.

  5. Dilbert - GO FOR IT! by ratboy666 · · Score: 4, Funny

    If you can get yourself on the "Standardization Committee", you can probably even have REAL fun! Like -- ask stupid questions: how does the language express factorial 10,000? Can I see some sample code? How about implementation of Knuth's Algorithm for sorting tape runs (whatever). How about dynamic programming? Backtracking? Functional programming? OOP support? Report generation from databases. GUI interfacing? Multi-threading?

    You get the drift. I am sure that you could generate at least 1,000 pages of samples, criteria, &etc.

    Ratboy

    --
    Just another "Cubible(sic) Joe" 2 17 3061
  6. Re:Pondering further by j-cloth · · Score: 4, Funny

    Rock.

    Next question?

  7. Standardize on Hindi~ by colin_n · · Score: 4, Funny

    Your company should standardize around Hindi - the new programming language in India - It is an extremely natural language - you write down your requirements in English (even on paper), send it via e-mail / snail mail to a supercomputer called "India", the "India" machine turns it into Hindi and feeds the information to a cluster of other India machines, known as "Indians" and then these "Indians" break it down into functions, write the code, put it back together, compile and send you the binary - you wont have to worry about what language they code it in!

    --

    --------- I have no signature
    1. Re:Standardize on Hindi~ by strider44 · · Score: 5, Funny

      Is the binary Big Indian or Little Indian?

    2. Re:Standardize on Hindi~ by BeardsmoreA · · Score: 3, Funny
      At least if you mix them up you should end up with a decent Na(a)n.

      Sorry. No really.

  8. Re:depends on what you code by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    We need a new moderation option: (Score:5, Pwned)

  9. Re:Depends... by O.W.M · · Score: 3, Funny

    English.