Ask HN: How to quickly switch to a programming lang that you won't code often?

[mohanmca]

Need suggestion from polyglot programmers, How do you quickly switch to a programming language that you won't code often?

I sometimes need to switch to few programming languages that I feel not proficient, But at times should do something with that like execute as a script, evaluate interview, manage/refer others code, find the treasure hidden in large code-base. For example, groovy, python, pl/sql, c# or typescript.

Do you have any tested technique to quickly recollect the entire language? hope few others would be in my situation!

Do you have any technique to come up to speed?

[detaro]

Having a certain level of familiarity with it helps: functions and some level of syntax are easy to look up if you forgot them, but the "how it works" should be deep enough in your brain that it comes back once you look at code. The more languages you know, the easier it is to link knowledge to other examples and remember it better.

This is the one thing I find "cheat sheet" summaries of languages helpful for: really quickly refresh memory of syntax and/or common pitfalls. Along the same lines, quick access to documentation. Don't hesitate to write down your own if you trip over things repeatedly.

Have an execution environment ready since you can't as reliably reason about code. For many languages a REPL is a good start, a nice IDE with debugger helps too.

[wdiamond]

The easier you learn the wastefull it is. I mean, brainfuck language can be more usefull than another c style programming language. stick to meanings not syntaxes.