Which Language is the Best for Programming?

KalvinB I've been a VB developer for over 12 years and your understanding is erm how can I put this politely ... dated. If you are comparing the VB of old with VB.NET then you have made a big mistake. It would be like comparing classic ASP with ASP.NET! Do you understand what .NET is all about?

Camel101 as I said before if you had a VB/Basic background then you couldn't go wrong learning VB.NET. If however you have no past experience then I would recommend C# without a doubt. A good VB.NET developer can easily convert to C# but the other way around is not easy.

I would suggest you first decide what it is that you want to develop. Then spend some time looking at the pros and cons of each language etc. I'm obviously biased towards .NET since I've made a career out of it. Incidentally I've recently been developing in both VB.NET and C# within the new Orcas (google it) Visual Studio release together with ASP.NET AJAX and SilverLight - now that is fun

 

The languages in .NET are vastly different, but the object model is identical. In other words, it doesn't matter a whole lot. C# is a little faster than VB in the real world, because you're forced to deal with implicit type conversions manually, and as a result tend to avoid them or deal better with them.

C# is also the closest you'll find to PHP and javascript. Well, maybe J#, but I wouldn't recommend using that one ... it's not very wide spread.

 

I would start with a procedural language like Pascal or C.
Then proceed with an Object Oriented Language like Java, C#, C++, Delphi.

The important thing is to learn the concepts. Once you learn the concepts, you will learn different languages in no time.

 

Different programming languages are best for different purposes. I like php for web based stuff. Add mysql database system and you have a great platform for the web. For applications, I use Java/C++ and the .net platform.

 

Do people still use Pascal?

 

I think you first have to learn PASCAL. Is like learn latin to understand french, italian, spanish and english. If you know pascal, it will be easy for you learn C, C++, C#, Java, and more.
Also, the "Visual Programation" is for people who doesn't know to program. Is like to use Dreamweaber or FrontPage. If you use them, is because you don't know HTML and PHP.
I write webpages entirely with the Notepad of Windows because I know HTML, PHP, JavaScript, VBScript, Java and ActionScript. So I can say I'm a web programmer. (at least, you are a web designer)

 

Mgware, I envy you because you can use the notepad so easy, but I can't go without syntax coloring and highlighting and project files management. When you have a script of a few hundred lines... notepad becomes a nightmare

 

I hear Welsh is very interesting. And red is a better colour then blue.

Sorry, but this is the worst thread I've ever read.

 

The only thing latin about Pascal is that it's a dead language.

I've never learned much of Pascal and currently know over a dozen languages.

It doesn't matter what language you learn first, every language comes easier after it. I used BASIC for about 8 years before I started working on an MMO in C and DirectX. I had no trouble picking either up.

The long and short of it is that you need to figure out what you want to do first. Languages are tools. Some languages have wider applications than others.

What I've found is that most people need to be entertained while they learn. C is very bad for that because until you learn more complex things you're stuck with typewriter games (text only, and vertical scrolling). BASIC is probably the best language to start with if you want to learn how to program because you get instant and easy access to graphics so you can make anything you want right from the beginning. It'll look terrible but at least you can learn many more concepts.

If you're concerned about a "c like syntax" then you quite simply shouldn't be programming at all.

Java has the same limitations as C when first starting out. Your programs will be boring and stupid and you'll probably give up on it quickly. I only use Java because I know enough to get graphics going and know how to do software rendering which is not a beginners topic.

However, if you want to get into web-development then PHP would be the best language to start with since it's so easy to use. You'll quickly be able to learn how to make dynamic web pages that do fun things. And, all the concepts you learn will translate easily into other languages. You'll see how languages mostly differ in the complexity of implementing various concepts. Creating an array in PHP is incredibly simple. Trying to do it in any other language is more complex.

Web development is a good start as well because you quickly find you need to learn html, css and javascript on top of PHP so you already get a dose of programming in multiple languages without much effort. You'll see how PHP and Javascript are different and the same and that should make something click so when you go to your next language it's easy to learn.

 

When I had 10 years old, I wanted make a game, and the easiest way was use Turbo Pascal, with the graphical extensions. Then I learned all about virtual screens, vertical splines, coordinates, and a few months later, I was programming games with assembler to get fast graphics. That is go from down to above!
Also, helped me that I always have something to do. I made encoders, calculators, viruses, graphics processors, databases, simulators, librarys...

 

Hmmm, what about interpreted/interpreting (and sometimes also referred to as "scripting") Python language?!? I mean it surely is an easy-to-learn programming language )


tayiper

 

I started with VB.net but in hindsight should have gone with C#. Seems more job opportunities for C# out there but also much more help.

 

Of course that the C# programmers are better paid than anyone! But it is hard to learn if you haven't experience in creation of software.

 

I agree but you now have an advantage since if you are a good VB developer you should be able to now convert to c# in about a week of solid learning. You now get paid higher because you can do the work that requires both

I highly recommend this book for conversion.

 

JAVA is the best language in the world! It is not fast as C, But it is reliable than C in (whnevr u r using arrays and kind of things) and it is the best supporting languages for design patterns

 

--> But doesn't the JVM have so much overhead that you loose performance?

To the OP:
It really depends on your final output to determine which language you are going to develop with. All of them will do the job, but some require a little more time to understand how they work.

In my opinion, VB is more forgiving than C#. However, if you learn C#, then Java and PHP are easier to pickup because they are closely related.

In my area, C++ are paid the most, Java and C# programmers are paid less than C++ programmers, with VB.Net behind them. PHP programmers are the lowest paid in my area when comparing the different languages. I have years of experiece with all of them, have changed jobs way too many times in my career, and have first hand knowledge of the demand/pay...

 

I think if you just keep practicing your eventually become good at it. It's inevitable lol.