should a student be diversifying or mastering programming languages?

Posted by Max Link on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Max Link
Published on 2010-06-09T22:36:55Z Indexed on 2010/06/09 22:42 UTC
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programming-languages

As the question states, is it better if a student diversifies or explores when learning programming languages or should they focus only on 2-3 languages and really get to know them well?

Example of what I mean by diversifying:

  Functional -> Scheme
  Procedural -> C
  Object Oriented -> Java
  Dynamic or scripting -> Python
  Other -> C++

I have a few breaks in between semesters sometimes (up to 3 months) and I'm thinking of either learning a new language or "master" those that I know right now. Which would benefit me in the future? I know some(about 3 months of self studying each) Java, C, and C++ already . If I'm not mistaken, where I live, the industry is heavy on Java, C++, and C#.

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