should I study C or C++ or Java or Visual Basic?

[higen]

I took Pascal and BASIC in a couple of beginner programming courses about a

decade ago and did well with them. I am good with pseudocode, algorithms,
and the mathematics of programming. I decided I should perhaps learn a
more powerful language to program my own apps. I got a "Beginning C" book,
but the C programs won't compile in the free compilers I have downloaded.
The syntax is different. I guess I have to buy a programming package, but
money's tight. Any recommendations?

I second whats have been said about c++. If you have time, and want to
learn a language that gives you fundamentals inside general
programming. C++ is the way.

Btw. Master Programmer was revealed as a Troll in an earlier post.

This is highly off topic in this group, but i checked out the website
to visual studio c++ express, and couldnt find the diffrent between
that and the retail version. I am going to code a network server,
(plain bsd socket standard for portability to unix), and some classes
to be used in a directX game.. but i am not going to take care of any
directX stuff at all, so it will be standard C++.

Since i saw on the page that VC++ Express was fully compliance with the
standard c++ and all that, i started considering installing the express
version instead of getting the whole retail package. Anyone know the
diffrent between express and retail, and will there be any advantages
for me there??

 

[abhinav.lele]

Your language choice should be driven by what sort of programs you want
to build. If you want cross platform development then Java is the
answer, but yes Java apps tend to be slow as they are a huge resource
hogg. Same is the case with .net based systems. Development is easy
with Visual Studio .Net but its a choice that you need to make. C / C++
will be my suggestion, primarily because with C one has to do a lot of
thing by himself, thus leading to better understanding. VB is for
rapid development. VB6 can be good language if you want only guis to be
developed and FAST.

 

[Richard Heathfield]

(e-mail address removed) said:

Your language choice should be driven by what sort of programs you want
to build.

....and by your employer's or client's requirements, if relevant; and by the
availability of implementations for your target platforms; and by your
innate preferences (because we're all more effective when using languages
that we feel at home with); and by the availability of any required
third-party libraries; and... and... and....

This is not a simple matter of "for *that* kind of program, use *that*
language.

If you want cross platform development then Java is the
answer,

Well, it's *an* answer. Other answers exist.

but yes Java apps tend to be slow as they are a huge resource
hogg. Same is the case with .net based systems.

Resource hog? Yes. Cross-platform development? No, I don't think so, unless
by "cross-platform" you mean "across any of the very, very few platforms
that .Net supports".

Development is easy
with Visual Studio .Net but its a choice that you need to make.

That's certainly true.

C / C++ will be my suggestion, primarily because with C one has to do a
lot of thing by himself, thus leading to better understanding.

That's an excellent reason, and here's another: with C (and indeed with
C++), any performance problems you're having are *your* problems! That
is, you can of course write slow programs in any language, but with C and
C++ you can't blame it on the language, nor are you likely to be able to
blame it on the implementation.

VB is for
rapid development. VB6 can be good language if you want only guis to be
developed and FAST.

C++ Builder fills this role even more effectively. In fact, one might argue
that the proper role of Visual Basic in GUI programming history was that it
showed what could be done, at which point C++ Builder appeared and showed
how it could be done well.

 

[Phlip]

The syntax is different. I guess I have to buy a programming package,
but money's tight. Any recommendations?

The best things in life are free. Download Ruby and dive in.

BTW this (utterly biased) online survey

http://visualpatterns.com/polls.jsp

says 47% of the engineers would pick Ruby on Rails over other Web
technology, such as Java or .NET.

 

[eriwik]

This is highly off topic in this group, but i checked out the website
to visual studio c++ express, and couldnt find the diffrent between
that and the retail version. I am going to code a network server,
(plain bsd socket standard for portability to unix), and some classes
to be used in a directX game.. but i am not going to take care of any
directX stuff at all, so it will be standard C++.

Since i saw on the page that VC++ Express was fully compliance with the
standard c++ and all that, i started considering installing the express
version instead of getting the whole retail package. Anyone know the
diffrent between express and retail, and will there be any advantages
for me there??

As far as I understand the compiler is exactly the same, what differs
is what tools and stuff you get in the IDE. Take a look at
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/vstudio/aa700921.aspx for a
comparison.

 

[nabiy]

Since i saw on the page that VC++ Express was fully compliance with the
standard c++ and all that, i started considering installing the express
version instead of getting the whole retail package. Anyone know the
diffrent between express and retail, and will there be any advantages
for me there??

I know that the express version does not include the psdk, so you will
have to download that separately if you want to program with the winapi.
setting up the psdk is easy, they even provide a video tutorial:
http://msdn.microsoft.com/visualc/learning/vcexpvids/default.aspx

you can see the differences between versions here:
http://msdn2.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hs24szh9(VS.80).aspx

basically with the express version you don't get all the development
tools but you probably won't miss them if you are just starting out.

nabiy

 

[ralph]

Visual Basic 6.0 is the undisputed GOD of programming languages. It
allows for very rapid development times. Don't go for VB.NET as the
newer versions are really a bit of a step backwards and do not offer
the same development speed. Most of the "post vb 6.0" versions are a
bit unstable as well. VB 6.0 remained the same for 8 years, so it has
no bugs like the newer flaky version.

Hope this helps
The Grand Master

No way! CA-Realizer!

Ralph

 

[ralph]

Yeah but what's he a "Grand Master" of? He certainly seems to be a
Troll, but I don't think he is much of a master at trolling as his
posts to now aint't been sophisticated enough IMO, That also means he
can't be a Grand Master of everything. Now maybe he is a Grand Master
BASIC programmer, but in that case why isnt he on some Basic newsgroup
expounding his pearls of wisdom to his apprentices?

Checking his profile
He posts on microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.vb a lot, criticizing vb.net
Ralph

 

[Gernot Frisch]

Checking his profile
He posts on microsoft.public.dotnet.languages.vb a lot, criticizing
vb.net
Ralph

Seems that "classes" are too complicated for the grand master...