F# is getting a foothold at the high-end shops. I haven't learned it and can't comment on its merits.
I haven't looked at it much, but when I did I thought it would work because it's basically OCaml with .Net underneath. Nice combo.
i laughed at bytetimes (now edited) post about if you 'get' c++ everything else sucks. that was my first poison and admit feeling the above when looking at other languages. fwiw i use c/c++, but really like to keep it as low level as possible, so end up doing most things in c but using the great oop funcionality that the ++ offers (classes, templates, etc). in reality, i think most languages are adept in skilled hands. but, since this the automation board, ime a particular advantage c/c++ has is that a lot of the api's, libraries, frameworks that are finance related will be written specifically in or will have a version in c++... and if they don't, they suck (ha!).
Ruby..........is OOP plus good meta-programming techniques. It basically allows you to be more creative than most languages and you can test out idea's much quicker as development is much easier. It lacks in speed vs Java c++, but can be implemented at a number of lower frequencies, but this is a broader topic. Looking at the speed of innovation in server side JavaScript, i wonder what it would be like to programme a trading startegy using these technologies such as node.js, comet, helma etc....
For my own algorithmic platform development I use Visual Studio 2010. You can see my interface on <a href="http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=202078&perpage=6&pagenumber=5"> this thread </a> Within Visual Studio (.NET) the choice of the language is mostly a matter of personal preference, as <b>everything boils down to the same MSIL code</b>. C# is just more stilish (which may be important given the herd mentality of some hedge funds and companies). VB.NET coders do have some advantage as their dev environment is more powerful and certainly speeds up productivity. If it has to be out of Microsoft world, then java is the one. If you need to go the very low level, hit the assembly line. Tom
I personally would never hire anyone who's primary language is Java. http://www.joelonsoftware.com/articles/ThePerilsofJavaSchools.html
i would bet random capital is a ruby on rails advocate over java. if java was called rogers, you would probable be a fan of rogers over everything else. i would say Random Capital just got owned by Rodney King:
But it would appear that some do: http://www.wilmott.com/messageview.cfm?catid=5&threadid=78303 These "religious" like statements about computer languages are downright stupid.