Post #2716195

2026-04-24 19:24 UTC

But these two things are related - language choice, and how far down you need to know. Because I do think that whatever language you use, you should know the "next level down". When you're writing code, you should be able to fairly simply translate in your head to the language below it.

Replies (4)

@TomF@mastodon.gamedev.place 2026-04-24 19:24

So if you're writing Python, you do need to understand what will become a dictionary, and roughly how duck-typing works. If you're writing a JITted language, you should roughly understand how the JITter works. If you're writing C# or other managed language, be aware of how the GC works, and you should be able to write the equivalent C++ code without too much trouble.

Open ##2716196
@MartyFouts@mastodon.online 2026-04-24 22:20

@TomF@mastodon.gamedev.place I think that was generally true 25 years ago and I think it’s still true in some cases now, but for most programmers working on most software it just isn’t necessary anymore, and often isn’t even possible to do well. Cheap computers and reasonable abstractions have made it largely unnecessary while complex architectures, sophisticated compilers and large libraries/frameworks have made it largely infeasible for most.

Open ##2716230
@mcmartin@mastodon.gamedev.place 2026-04-25 01:11

@TomF@mastodon.gamedev.place I have long held this, and I have also long held that you should know one level "up" as well. An asm programmer must know how to build functions. A C programmer should be able to synthesize vtables, closures, and Rust-style matchable enums as required. And so on.

Open ##2716241
@tsturm@famichiki.jp 2026-04-25 06:45

@TomF@mastodon.gamedev.place That is great advice.

Open ##2716243