How to counter the "one true language" perspective?

Posted by Rob Wells on Stack Overflow See other posts from Stack Overflow or by Rob Wells
Published on 2010-04-10T22:49:34Z Indexed on 2010/04/11 3:03 UTC
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programming-languages

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people-skills

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How do you work with someone when they haven't been able to see that there is a range of other languages out there beyond "The One True Path"?

I mean someone who hasn't realised that the modern software professional has a range of tools in his toolbox. The person whose knee jerk reaction is, for example, "We must do this is C++!" "Everything must be done in C++!"

What's the best approach to open people up to the fact that "not everything is a nail"? How may I introduce them to having a well-equipped toolbox, selecting the best tool for the job at hand?

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