Hi All,

Though this is a matter of personal choice and comfort. I would want your views on a situation like this. Programmer A has been working on PHP for some years, and has had prior experience in C.C++ during algorithm courses in university. The current fluency is good is PHP,but C,C++ can also be brushed up. So for interviews with major companies who put lot of emphasis on algorithms and data structures in programming interview e.g. binary trees, linked lists, arrays , strings .

• What should programmer A do ? Try to implement those things in PHP ( which is generally more suited for web development rather than programming contests/interviews ) or
• Or brush up the C,C++ skills and keep them as primary tool for tackling interview questions.

What are advantages/ disadvantages of each language for an environment like programming contest or an interview ? Why would you recommend,not recommend Programmer A to participate in a contest like google code Jam/ ACM ICPC using PHP instead of C++ ? ( assuming PHP is allowed as a language there)