How can you ensure your programming skills transfer between languages?

I had the privilege to learn multiple programming languages in college: Java, Python and Swift. I was always strong at math early on, but I didn't know much about Computer Science until my New Student Orientation. I'd advise my approach because 1) I was given a Java book because that's what the university taught. 2) I then started learning HTML & JavaScript on CodeAcademy. 3) Most importantly, I found a technology I loved to use, so I learned iOS dev for iPhone, Apple Watches, and Augmented Reality supported devices. Learn a little about everything early on, but mastering a language and building something great is my approach. Once you know how to create your best product in your favorite language, recreating it reduces technical debt.

Whether you’re learning code for the first time or furthering your education, you should know what you want to learn and why. What is your main goal? Do you have a specific project on your mind? Once you’ve chosen the language you want to learn, start from the beginning and work your way up. You might be tempted to jump to more advanced levels, but trust me, jumping over basics will result in wasting valuable time later.

I'm an iOS guy, I haven't worked on anything outside my scope but I've got a chance to look at the Android codebase in my previous company. I felt everything is pretty much similar, like it's just that you have to get used to the syntax. I feel like all Object oriented programming languages follow similar techniques using different styles, one good example I could think of is Dependency Injection. One has to be good at the basics like SOLID principles

To ensure your programming skills transfer between languages, focus on mastering core concepts, understanding language-agnostic principles, and practicing regularly in diverse languages. Additionally, keep learning, read documentation and source code, and cultivate a problem-solving approach that transcends specific languages.

In my experience trying to keep it as simple as possible to explain for all team members helps a lot. What might help is to mentor juniors and document things as much as possible.

Once you go through basics, fun part begins. Experience in programming any given language is still experience programming. It will help more in similar languages, but even in wildly different languages, it’s still experience in thinking about a problem, and finding a way to solve it. For instants, you can do a lot of PHP programming but that won’t make you any good at using the object-oriented facilities. Start with similarities between languages and build your way up to differences.

I want to mention about leveraging similarities to ease the learning curve. Let's look at transitioning from Kotlin/Android to Dart/Flutter? Kotlin and Dart: Both are modern, featuring type inference and null safety. If you're adept in Kotlin, picking up Dart becomes more straightforward. LiveData and Flutter BLoC: Each offers reactive state management. Understanding LiveData makes learning BLoC easier due to overlapping concepts. Jetpack Compose and Flutter Widgets: Both frameworks focus on composability and reusability in UI design, facilitating a smoother transition. Recognizing similarities not only speeds up the learning process but also boosts your confidence.

In my experience being an iOS dev working on swift it has been easy to switch to kotlin in android. The way is to understand the control flow of each platform, eg the entry points of the app, view life cycle and similarities in platform ( eg info.plist and android.manifest ) . Once we identify the control flow and similarities then languages is just a tool to achieve this flow. If you look at lamdas in kotlin and closure in swift basically achieve the same control flow another example is data class and struct . Another thing i observe is high level apis are getting similar eg jetpack compose and swiftui basically achieves the same declarative ui constructions in two different languages but core architecture is the same.

As someone who knows 3 different languages, my way to learn was by first focusing on the similarities and then remembering the difference, similar to how we learn differences between things in school! Sounds funny but works ??

While walking the path of learning a new language you will find your brain comparing between the items and objects you use in the languages you know and the one you are learning. Take this comparison and embrace it , it will be handy with the learning of the new language as it will engrave the new terms and the new language in the brain. Also , the very main difference between any language and another (as it is oop) is the syntax , not much more than that. So the principals of oop is the necessary thing that will help you learn new language once you know it's syntax.

Using different cross-platform tools, technologies, and languages in the last 11 years, I have learned that these tools and languages only survives if been backed by big companies and huge communities. That is why Senchia Touch, Phone Gap, Native Script, and others, couldn't survive because there were no real support from big companies for them, even Xamarin faded out Now the big runners are React Native (RN), Flutter, and Kotlin Multiplatform (KMP) all are backed by big companies and the first 2 have bigger communities (RN) still in version 0.x.x which means that Facebook don't consider it stable yet, Flutter dependece on Fuchia platform as next distribution system plan won't see the light, and (KMP) has all the future once being stable

Cross platform tools can be helpful for fast programming but can also be a crutch that can prevent you from being able to fix complex problems that may be effected by the use of the tools or shortcuts. Learning the vanilla language without extra shortcuts can help you build broader programs as well as be able to creatively fix problems that may arise that the "tools" cant handle.

The third step involves leveraging cross-platform tools that enable you to code once and deploy across various platforms. Take Flutter as an example: it's a UI toolkit powered by Dart, facilitating the creation of native applications for Android, iOS, web, and desktop. Alternatively, React Native, utilizing JavaScript, allows you to craft apps with native components for both Android and iOS. Utilizing such cross-platform solutions not only conserves time and energy but also optimizes code reusability and skill applicability across diverse platforms.

Nope, no way on Earth I'd recommend cross-platform development. The situation was illustrated in Shakespeare's 600 years old opera "The servant of two masters" where the person did their best and yet failed to satisfy both. This is a precise description of the multi-platform development. If you'll participate in it you'll lose your original skills and won't acquire anything interesting in return. Except for the situation where you was a junior without any skills to lose / degrade.

Practicing may seem like an obvious suggestion. Watching tutorials, and reading books can help you, but as soon as you start coding yourself, it is better for you. Completing projects is a great way to dive into the ins and outs of your new language. There are always many ways of solving problems in programming, but you have to find your way.

The fourth step hinges on consistent practice and experimentation across various languages and projects. True mastery is achieved through active engagement rather than passive consumption. Seek out online courses, tutorials, challenges, or even open-source initiatives that employ your target languages, and either follow their progression or actively contribute. Embarking on your personal projects or apps, integrating varied languages and functionalities, and testing them across distinct devices or emulators can be equally beneficial. Through hands-on practice and exploration, you not only bolster your confidence and expertise but also uncover innovative approaches to problem-solving and solution crafting.

Two words: pet projects. If you try your "brilliant ideas" on your own projects - you'll skip months of the corporate disappointment and your colleagues hating on you for your fail-ideas they've tried and dumped years ago. And then in your pet projects you are able to choose and use any technology you want, regardless of your corporate overlords' opinions trying to impose 5-50 years old ideas into every bit of your code. You can get into the decades of their progress in a week by not following the restrictions to create an interface and doc for every class and variable you write. So every weekend I feel like Daedalus trying to reach the Sol. And then I return to my corp code and see the typical mistakes I've made/fixed five years ago...

If you understand the core concepts of mobile and its life cycle. Implementation language shouldn't be a barrier. Example OOPS concept is universal.

The fifth step revolves around procuring feedback and fostering relationships with fellow developers well-versed in your desired languages. Delving into online communities, forums, or dedicated groups for specific languages or platforms can be invaluable. Within these spaces, you can pose questions, showcase your projects, or lend a hand to others. Additionally, seeking out mentors, contemporaries, or coaches can provide tailored guidance, code reviews, and seasoned advice. By actively soliciting feedback and building supportive connections, you benefit from the diverse insights and experiences of others, enhancing your own proficiency and understanding in the process.

I searched in youtube for videos having online code available and books with github repositories, this allowed me to copy their code (login screen, parent child data entry form) and start with 50 percent instead of 0. A rapid prototyping tool (Figma, radzen etc.) is even better.

For me, getting to the core principles of programming, like SOLID and Clean Code, has been a game-changer. This stuff is universally impactful. Up next is Clean Architecture or just architecture concepts in general; the way you implement can be totally different between mobile and backend, but the core ideas stay the same. And then there's Refactoring & TDD, which fit really well into Agile Teams and help make Continuous Integration and development a reality. So, besides getting the basics of programming down, you should definitely start learning how to write high-quality, maintainable, and scalable code. This is key, no matter what tech or language you're using.

Subscribe to mailing lists about your technology of choice, or multiple as well, to keep yourself up to date with the latest releases on libraries and best practices. Mobile and many other topics in technology are built upon `standards de facto` (something that became accepted in practice but has not undergone any formal process to obtain consensus and may not even have publicly available documentation).

Updating is most challenging for web technologies as the web standards, deployment platforms, frameworks are evolving and ever-changing. One must budget for the effort to upgrade various tiers of the application, even database upgrades, backend upgrades and frontend upgrades.

Consider learning backend along with mobile. Just browsing the Firebase console (not just for auth) makes you realize there is a lot more to think about when you start building a mobile app from scratch

Right now we are in Terra Incognita of ML/AI field, the faster you jump in it - the more territory you'll conquer, with zero to none resistance. This is like once per generation opportunity, don't miss your chance. Also there is a good chance this is our (IT) last opportunity to join a hype train considering this one is about to replace the whole IT outside of "AI-whisperers" roles.