I love learning new languages. I'm trying to pick up (on average) one per a year. The problem is that I become knowledgeable about a bunch of languages but not really an expert in any of them! Granted, I know there are some underlying similarities between all languages.
I want to get the job done quickly, but I'm not opposed to spending a number of months working on it. I just want the application to run really well and be easy to maintain and grow.
I just keep vacillating between that crux that you mentioned. I kinda wish there was an easy way to create a web application with Matlab, since its easy and powerful (and I know it pretty well). But I also keep getting pulled back into the "well, maybe I should pick up a more 'popular' language because that's what seems most web apps are constructed with these days"
I have also become familiar with several languages (C, C++, C#, Java, PHP, Python, and Ruby), but when I wanted to start a big project, I realized that I only knew the basics of the language (i.e., synatx). I had no real exposure to the vast libraries available. Once I realized this, and that was only within the past month, I decided to focus just on C and C++. This decision was driven by the fact that I am starting an MSFE program this fall and all I have read about quant work says that I should be well versed in C++. The reason I have also chosen C is because the project I am spending this summer working on is building the statistics and probability portion of a quantitative finance library. I am using two libraries as a reference (Quantlib and GSL) and one is written in C++ and the other in C. Like it has been said, I think it might be a good idea to focus on what you already know and work on improving the skills in that language.
I want to get the job done quickly, but I'm not opposed to spending a number of months working on it. I just want the application to run really well and be easy to maintain and grow.
I just keep vacillating between that crux that you mentioned. I kinda wish there was an easy way to create a web application with Matlab, since its easy and powerful (and I know it pretty well). But I also keep getting pulled back into the "well, maybe I should pick up a more 'popular' language because that's what seems most web apps are constructed with these days"