Ask Slashdot: How Often Do You Switch Programming Languages?

An anonymous Slashdot reader writes: I always see a lot of different opinions about programming languages, but how much choice do you really get to have over which language to use? If you want to develop for Android, then you're probably using Java...and if you're developing for iOS, then you've probably been using Swift or Objective-C. Even when looking for a job, all your most recent job experience is usually tied up in whatever language your current employer insisted on using. (Unless people are routinely getting hired to work on projects in an entirely different language than the one that they're using now...)

Maybe the question I really want to ask is how often do you really get to choose your programming languages... Does it happen when you're swayed by the available development environment or intrigued by the community's stellar reputation, or that buzz of excitement that keeps building up around one particular language? Or are programming languages just something that you eventually just fall into by default?
Leave your answers in the comments. How often do you switch programming languages?

Comments

When you pry my keyboard from my cold dead fingers

[macker]

But then, I only fry firmware-burgers, so 'C' and assembler are it...unless you wanna count all the assembler flavors, then it would be 2 or 3 times a day...

How many pieces of hardware are in the system?

[JoeMerchant]

Small embedded ARM processors: C

Mid-sized embedded Linux: C++

Bloaty multi-core GUI with printer drivers, etc. running on Windows: C#

Cloudy web servery type stuff: Javascript

And, all of these can be found in a single shipping product. Go Team Silo Go! Hope it sticks when you toss it over the wall!

Man, I'm glad I got out of IT

[DNS-and-BIND]

One thing I do not miss (besides being woken up by the pager) is having my knowledge obsoleted and being forced to learn new things. Oh, but you're supposed to never stop learning, stay young, blah blah blah. Bullshit, that's a bunch of pro-corporate propaganda. Now, I learn something...it sticks. 5 years later, I still know the thing. In fact, after 5 years I'm probably quite good at it. I will stay quite good at it until it changes (slowly or not at all) or I die. Sure, new laws and regulations come along every so often and they must be mastered, but it is nothing like IT. I like this way much better than becoming an expert and then having to start all over at square 1.