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The Peterman Pod What are the top three programming languages every engineer should learn in 2026?

@ryanlpeterman

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Why it worked

The video leverages the authority of the creator of Lua to discuss programming languages, providing insights into functional programming and historical languages that would appeal to software engineers. The use of relatable jokes and clear explanations makes the content engaging and informative.

Summary

This video discusses programming languages that engineers should learn, focusing on Haskell for functional programming, Assembly for understanding machine operations, and Smalltalk for its historical significance in pattern matching. The creator contrasts the development process in C with Haskell and highlights the uniformity in modern languages.

Structure

1Introduction of the topic: top programming languages for engineers in 2026.
2Discussion of Haskell as a language for functional programming, with a joke about its development cycle.
3Recommendation to learn Assembly to understand machine operations.
4Recommendation to learn Smalltalk for its historical significance and pattern matching capabilities.
5Concluding thoughts on language uniformity.

Product placement

Haskell ACTS - it is discussed as a language for learning functional programming, and its characteristics are described. Removing it would change the topic of the video. Smalltalk ACTS - it is recommended as a language to learn, and its features are described. Removing it would change the topic of the video. Assembly ACTS - it is recommended to learn to understand how machines work. Removing it would change the topic of the video. Lua APPEARS - it is mentioned as the creator's language, but its functionality is not discussed or demonstrated. Removing it would not change what happens in the video.

Original caption

Roberto Ierusalimschy (creator of Lua): “Haskell, I think, is an incredible language. It has everything you need to really learn about functional programming. There is an old joke in the Haskell community that if you write a program in C, we’ll spend one week to make it efficient and then you spend one year to make it correct. In Haskell, you spend one week to make it correct and then you may spend one year to make it efficient. It has some truth. Sit or learn some assembler to have this idea of what a machine does, how it does stuff. Exactly. The basic old language that this is very, very, very old, SNOBOL, one of the first languages to have pattern matching. Sometimes it’s interesting to see old languages because nowadays a lot of languages tend to be too uniform in some aspects. And so it’s interesting to see some older languages.” For the full conversation, you can search Roberto Ierusalimschy on my YouTube, Spotify or Apple Podcasts (link in bio)