Choose a language.

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rburley

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Hi all.
WARNING : programming nooB
In a month or so's time I am going to be starting my first Programming Language, and ATM I dont know which one to choose. Which would be the best to choose ITO careers(local and abroad) and difficulty wise, which is the hardest as I understand some of these get quite difficult.
I have a choice of these, dont have the details on me.

C++
C#
Java
VB. NET

sorry if all sounds nooB, but i am:)
 
For ease of use, VB would be the easiest, then Java, C# and finally C++. If you want to become a real programmer, go for C# or C++. If you just want to go for the money (shortterm IMO) go for VB or Java.

Others might have different views, but that's their prerogative... ;)
 
If you want to program to get a quick application that works...then go for VB. If you're really interested in getting into the nitty gritty of programming and you're a geeky person then go for the C++...C# and Java are much of the same with Java being 2nd best to C++...no real pointer manipulation or memory management. If you know C++ then Java and C# are very easy to learn. The basic programming constructs are identical.
 
Doing java at the moment and it seems quite basic to get started in. Don't know how powerful java really is. Seems like a really good way to get into programming.

Once you have the basics its very easy to learn a new language. There are mostly new commands and a few changes going to different languages. I think C++ and C re probably the msot powerful of all.

So in a nutshell Java --> C++
 
okay thanks for the replys, still undecided...
I think i will take a look into C++ but I have heard that it is most difficult so that puts me off a bit, considering I have only 75 days to learn it.
@ thisgeek will speak to XEye
 
ok, here are my 2 cents:

C++ - the real stuff, if you know C++, you can call yourself a programmer

C# - it is ok, kind of a subset from C++, with few add-ons from java, nice for GUI if you work with the VS .NET

Java - quite basic language, not too powerful, people push it over its limits, often with disasterous results, only benefit is that it is cross-platform, although not exactly, I would say it is a mess, I wouldn't bother really, and anyway if you know C++ or C#, switching to java is just like 30 min figuring out what you can't do in Java

VB. NET - I will always choose C# over VB.NET although at the end of the day the results in respect to the software will be the same more or less. The VB language is like a 30 year old hack, very difficult to maintain applications written in it, easy to understand but difficult to use for real stuff and especially for big projects that will require lots of maintenance.

So, I would recommend going for C++ or if you scared, maybe for C#. C++ is extremely complex language but also extremely powerful. Most stuff that you use on your PC are written in C or C++, especially under Linux, where virtually all software is written in C/C++. It is absolutely impossible to learn it in 75 days or anything close to that number, but you can pick up the basics and the most essential stuff in that time.

hope this helps
 
thanx swordfish...
I am at CTI, there time schedule is ludicri$$ (notice the $ sign, thats all they care about @ R58000 per year).

I wil think long and hard about this, either C++ or C#.
 
oh and another thing...
do any of you know of a website that compares langauges for n00bs or maybe even like a guide or something?
 
swordfish1 said:
Java - quite basic language, not too powerful
Click to expand...

I take it you never used J2EE :).
I would go for C# and concentrate on .NET development as a stepping stone into a programming career.
 
I have been learning Java in school (computer science) and it's pretty easy. Haven't tried any C. Out of interest, what language is in the most demand?

Cheers, Nick
 
tibby.dude said:
I take it you never used J2EE :).
I would go for C# and concentrate on .NET development as a stepping stone into a programming career.
Click to expand...
I have used Java quite a few times, have to say that the time that the garbage collection is supposedly saving you, gets wasted 3 times over figuring out why the hell the garbage collection doesn't do its job properly ... no thanks, I will rather have a "delete" statement wherever necessary ... java is good for small run-once stuff or something attached to a web server which is managed by the web server ... writing applications that need to run for long periods of time in the same process without being restarted is a no no!!!
 
rburley said:
oh and another thing...
do any of you know of a website that compares langauges for n00bs or maybe even like a guide or something?
Click to expand...
you won't find a decent review, all are biased, if you want just a feature comparison that is another story
 
Nickste said:
I have been learning Java in school (computer science) and it's pretty easy. Haven't tried any C. Out of interest, what language is in the most demand?

Cheers, Nick
Click to expand...
C/C++ make up about 40% or so, java is about 20-25 I think, PHP is quite big (12-13%), all others have much smaller shares ... I think .NET will slowly become more popular while Java will decrease in popularity
 
swordfish1 said:
java is good for small run-once stuff or something attached to a web server which is managed by the web server ... writing applications that need to run for long periods of time in the same process without being restarted is a no no!!!
Click to expand...

http://www.s1.com/products/atm_pos_postilion_esocket.jsp

Realtime ... mission critical piece of software that talks between merchant and bank networks ... handling other people's money ... all written in Java.

I can give you many other example of mission critical enterprise applications that uses Java.

There is more to the I.T world than Microsoft.
 
swordfish1 said:
I think .NET will slowly become more popular while Java will decrease in popularity
Click to expand...

.NET only runs on Windows and unsupported on Linux if the Mono guys ever manages to finish.

Java runs supported on many more platforms and OS than that.
 
when you say "uses java" you mean that the business logic is in java code I suppose ... and then this gets run by a normal web server like apache, which is written in C? Isn't the JVM written in C as well ... see what I mean
 
tibby.dude said:
.NET only runs on Windows and unsupported on Linux if the Mono guys ever manages to finish.

Java runs supported on many more platforms and OS than that.
Click to expand...
I use to believe that java is cross-platform as well, but it turned out to be quite false statement. True, the libraries, threading and few other things are cross-platform, but then you get to the GUI, which is cross-platform as long as you find the exact same JVM for all platforms, which is not quite possible. Then you get to things like desktop integration etc which are really badly supported if at all. So for the easy stuff it is cross-platform, but for the difficult things it is the same as doing it in C/C++
 
swordfish1 said:
when you say "uses java" you mean that the business logic is in java code I suppose ... and then this gets run by a normal web server like apache, which is written in C? Isn't the JVM written in C as well ... see what I mean
Click to expand...

You use middleware J2EE application servers to deploy your Java apps to the web ... JBoss which Redhat recently purchased for few hundred million dollars is written in Java itself.

Also the Tomcat webserver which handles Java server side scripting is written in Java itself.
 
The number one misconception is that C++ is the most difficult language. It is not. I have found that if you only use the features that exists in the other languages then it's just as easy to learn. C++ gives you that edge of being able to manipulate pointers and memory directly and to insert asm code if you need it. You don't however need to learn or use all these features and there are a number of very good programs that don't use any of it. It's just there for when you might need it.

We could say that whenever you need these things in other languages you will probably be stuck. In which case you would then have to find a different approach to the problem leading to code that is illogical and hard to impossible to understand. So go for C++. Learn only the basics and then learn other stuff as you go along. It's easier to learn the rest of the stuff onch you have an actual program where you will implement it.

Once you know C++ you also know 90% Java. The syntax is the same. The only thing you will have to learn there are the library functions and their uses. If you then have to write a cross platform application or a quick "test app" you can then write it in Java and later port it to different platforms using C++.

Opera is a perfect example of this. You have the mini apllication written in java that can theoretically run on an internet equiped television. Then you have the full featured browsers for both the pc and phone written in C++ or some other language.

If you're going to write an application that will run in a users browser you will obviously have to go for Java to ensure compatibility.

So my recommendation: C++, Java, C#, then VB.
Remember that VB is largely Microsloth owned and that none of these languages may legally be used in any mission critically application e.g. hart machines, nuclear reactors, missile control systems, etc.
 
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