Maintaining program skills

Over the past 2 years i've been learning languages like Java, C, C++, Python, SQL, ..

I also learned some less significant things such as LaTeX, VBA, scripting in unix shell, how to use CGI scripts and HTML and CSS.

I 开发者_运维百科have learned all of these quite thourougly, not just some Hello World!-applications...

But how does one maintain so 'many' different languages and all of their aspects?

If someone told me to set up a program in Python now, i would have no clue on how to start, i would first have to go through my study books again.

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Don't worry about it. You may be thinking "use it or lose it" - and there's an element of that to the experience, but it's more a matter of, if you're not using it, it's probably because you don't need it right now. When the time come and you do need - let's say python - again, sure, it will take some time to come back up to speed, but it will nevertheless be a great deal less effort than if you had never gotten your head around it in the first place.

Don't try to keep your head cluttered with everything at once; you probably can't. Learn what you want, hang on to the important bits (you will probably do this without trying), and let the messy details slip away until you need them. If you have to look them back up at that point, that's OK.

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While delnan is correct that the "learn, and then forget as soon as possible" strategy is never really a good one, despite how common it is among students and many others, it's also not realistic to think you're going to remember how to code in languages that you never use. If you spend all day coding in Java or C++, it seems easy enough to forgive yourself for forgetting how to program in Python without a quick review. (It's likely that it will come back to quickly, though, not only because you already learned the language once, but also because programming in any language will give you a solid foundation for learning and programming in another.)

If you truly want to remember what you've learned, you need to exercise those skills. You need to write code in those languages, even if it's just for a silly, self-imposed project. Bang out a script in Python to automate something you find yourself doing often. Try answering questions here on Stack Overflow about those languages you find yourself coding in or thinking about only infrequently. That will help reinforce your memory and skills in those other languages, while giving you some fun problems to think about at the same time. If you're really looking for a fun challenge, force yourself to play Code Golf using your rarely used languages!

As far as "how does one maintain so many different languages and all of their aspects?" Well, I don't. And neither do most people. If you know a handful of languages well, and have some experience in a few others, you're doing better than a lot of people. You certainly don't have to remember all of their aspects.

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Answer other people's questions on those languages on internet forums :) That forces you to keep up-to-date because you have to keep figuring new things out.