So I'm working of learning VB.net and C#.net and I was reading alot about other languages. Really what I would like to know is what are the major differences between these languages (online and offline), their usage, and areas where they perform the best. I know the answer for most but i'd really like the opinions of more experienced developers. VB C# Ruby (and Ruby on Rails) Python Cold Fusion Asp PHP Perl C++ Java
In all seriousness, VB is a piece of shit, and I'd stay away from all .NET stuff if I could. Some people swear by Ruby, it's not really my thing but it's not a bad language, Python is getting a little more outdated but it serves some purpose still, ASP is a joke, very very very few companies / sites use it, it's a bs microsoft proprietary software and it only runs on windows, PHP is where it's at for web development (also has some non-www based uses but not very commonly used), C/C++ is the best thing you've got on that list I'd say, and Java is so-so but not really a very good language overall.
lol so you murdered everything on that list about... anyone else have an informed opinion/thought they would like to share.
no, they didnt murder PHP (or perl) and yet it would be the very first one I would say was poor esp as it is script - therefore classic asp would be very close behind php
well i'm currently workin on PHP and it amazes me how flexible it is. What are some of the non www uses of php?
Different languages for different purposes... If your boss needs you to whip up a simple windows application quickly, VB/VB.NET would be my first choice... Language depends on the situation...
You can actually write server applications, it has some interesting socket features. I got bored and wrote a client for a staff chat in Delphi, and it connected to a server with some basic authentication and functions that was written in php. It's more of a good learning experience to learn the language inside and out. I do occasionally write files in PHP if I need to manipulate large chunks of data or if I need to check server statuses and what not. I've written just about every language on that list, C/C++ and PHP are my favorites (PHP is C native anyway), although they both have their pitfalls, I'd say PHP is the best for http based things, and for any real application that matters and you don't have a huge rush on the time constraints, C/C++ is the best there and really the most flexible and easiest to use cross-platform.
Though of cause a growing number of former PHP based applications are moving across to .Net (eg MySpace - formally PHP and CFM). There is a fairly small differences if you are talking SME web applications but when you start looking at corporate level there are different priorities and so preferences change - the two things that Apache (more than PHP itself) does well is url rewriting and timed jobs both of which are limited on most shared IIS servers.
Well im a computer info systems major and, programming wise, they are teaching VB.net, C#.net, and ASP.net in that order. I've asked for electives in PHP or just a general open source programming class but they say NO! lol Really though i'm seeing many people asking for ruby or ruby on rails knowledge. So after I get a grip on PHP (workin on it) i think i'll work on that
All .NET languages are very similar. Once you learn C#, you've more all less learned VB.NET as well. C# is my favourite programming language for doing applications, and PHP is my favourite for web application. J# can be a handy language to have, as it is very similar to java, but for windows only, and is easy enough to learn once you have C#/VB.NET under your belt. C++ is a good language to know, as it has faster runtime (but not as many features) as C#. BP
Apache is great Only a few big things are really coded in asp or that .NET crap (sorry, a little biased but I really hate it), if it's really that important that you need that kind of power because you run one of the top 10 websites on the net (Facebook still uses PHP and probably will continue to), you can either spend the money on clustering which is really easy and cheap, or if you need something super powerful and don't want to do a lot of clustering, and you're demands are so insane that you need to get something even more powerful, custom code it, ebay, google, amazon and a couple other big sites have it custom coded, presumably in C if I recall. Yeah it's a shame, universities are really poorly prioritizing. I went to a big university and a small university at different points, the smaller one at least had an emphasis on Java and it did have some upper level stuff in databases and couple more web related development, but the larger university (Purdue, top 10 engineering schools in the world), doesn't offer any PHP/MySQL classes, but does have Java and ASP and crap sadly, which is kind of contradictory to the market. A few larger companies say they want ASP and .NET stuff, but generally the people making these decisions have no idea what the hell they really want or need, just what they're being told they want. I'd say a vast majority of sites on the net that are dynamic, probably 90%+ run on PHP. I've had ONE client in the last 4 years or so that had JSP, everyone else is on PHP, and since .NET is windows proprietary, you'd need a windows server, and Ive had 2 clients in that time span that had windows servers. Linux is by far the most common, CentOS being the most popular, but every now and then I see FreeBSD servers and they way outnumber windows servers. In closing, .NET sucks, PHP still rules the internet and as it keeps getting better and better (PHP6 is going to be crazy), I think it's going to stay on top, and if .NET wants to compete, it'll have to natively run on Linux machines (and yes, I'm aware that there are a couple of small programs working to make it work, but they're not really supported or reliable).
lots of strong anti .net fellows here! I believe the reason they are teaching C#, VB, and ASP is because the nashville market. I suppose they assume that most people at our university (26000 people) aren't going to leave TN.... retarded i know. Therefor i am taking it upon myself to prepare myself for the future (what ever that may be)
I am not convinced they will given Microsofts recent purchase of a significant share - whilst there is still not formal .Net support for their Apps framework things are changing now that MS are creating a control kit for the apps and on the last update of the API the new version of the kit was released before (talking minutes) the PHP and Java versions which are the offical supported ones
I have used both PHP and .Net technologies to build complex web applications. In my area, .Net is in more demand and has been for a long time. I think .Net has good tools for development. However, so many people like to bash any MS product. Because of MS products, I have always made a decent living.
Kind of odd question, if it wasnt for the post count I'd have guessed this maybe related to a school project or experiment Well it didn't take long for someone to bite. Writing some config files these days require it's own specific programming knowledge. tarponkeith is correct, and there is something appealing about each of they languages in some way, wether personal preference, the application or otherwise
java is always good to know ... alot of mobile phone applications are java, ebay was/is? java, java is a prety strong market... i love php... dont really know asp, .net, vb, or c although i have to learn it all in the following years for college...
Java has a lot of big corporate uses and so JSP used to be very common for financial institutions... saying that there has been a move across in that area too, my former employer (a multinational bank) switched from JSP to .Net shortly before I left.
i agree with this. i use perl, which is easy, flexible, and powerful, as well as the occasional javascript... i notice that the PHP people tend to have issues with the mysql database, which i never have with perl. if i could go back in time, i would start with c/c++. but nowadays the momentum seems to be with ruby, a lot of the guys i know switched to ruby. i'm sticking with perl though.