when programming, if you keep your mind on the structures and on the problems themselves instead of on the language, you'll naturally reach points where you will demand that the language do X. sometimes the language will be able to, and it will seem "advanced." sometimes the language won't be able and you'll sob quietly for a moment because you have to implement it in another less elegant way
but if you worry about the details of the language, it will prematurely affect the structures that you create. in this mode it's harder to write "advanced" things because you are respecting the language too much, and are more confined to its syntax/semantics
if you stay above/outside the language, you will naturally pull it up
Well, you prove the point. You are incapable of seeing your own weaknesses in a language.
One can write every language the same way, but that's not programming. You can't learn python and then write C the python way. You can't write Python as you would Java.
Syntactically, it's possible, but that's a different language you are using then.
Don't confuse syntax or knowing when to use particular constructs with knowing a language. Call me slow, but it took me 3 years before I felt confident that I really knew most of C++. I know when to use Boost, when to use STD, What AtlArray is, how to write an IDL file, what extern 'C' does, what an stdcall is, how my variables are layed on my stack, what Gui toolkits are available, how Borland C++ makes properties appear in C++ classes, when one should use an int64, etc.
It takes time to learn that stuff, but to be really good at a language, you need to know it.
We're like doctors, you don't need to apply your knowledge all the time, but when you need it, you need to be aware of what exists and where to look it up.
If they ask me - write a webserver under Windows, I need to instantly be able to think of 3-4 libraries I could use for the low level stuff, and then decide which is best. All that takes time.
The syntax is nothing. A language is a whole lot more than that. You can't stay above a language. You need to delve into the language, you need to have a feeling for the language, you need to feel inside you how to express things in a particular programming language.
When you describe a problem to me, I can see the C++ structure in my minds eye. I can mentally walk through the code, see where I would use templates, where I would use an interface class, where I would subclass and so on.
I can't do the same with python, because even though I know the syntax, I've not used it long enough to get an extreme feel for the language. And the python folks like to reduce stuff down to short lines, and that's something you don't do in C++.
Learning a programming language is learning a new way to think. Not a new way to string sentences together.
note the word "prematurely." of course you have to follow the rules of the language, but being inside the box of the language from beginning to end will limit your creations
I'm not sure if you're being serious here or not... It's tough to tell on the interwebs... But I'll play devil's advocate and pretend that you aren't joking.
Writing Java in Lisp doesn't mean you've mastered Lisp. There is a difference between understanding the logic and creating the implementation in the best way possible, given the language.
As a very simplistic example, C and Python have two different ways to iterate. You could write a loop in Python in a C-like way, but there are much better ways to do it (list comprehensions).
On the flip side, just because C doesn't have list comprehensions doesn't mean it's less powerful as a language. It just does things in a different way. Knowing those sorts of things is why being idiomatic in a language is part of mastering it.
yes, and there is the implicit APL way of iterating. the point is to recognize that they are all instances of the same thing
i'm not talking about java. i'm talking about structures -- problems, their domains, and the machinations that can be used to solve them, independent of any language or implementation
but if you worry about the details of the language, it will prematurely affect the structures that you create. in this mode it's harder to write "advanced" things because you are respecting the language too much, and are more confined to its syntax/semantics
if you stay above/outside the language, you will naturally pull it up