which programming language should I learn?

[Xx1]

I have a lot of free time lately and I was thinking about learning a programming language in my spare time.

I've done preliminary Visual Basic, Perl and HTML.

What's a good and practical language to learn? I'm leaning towards JAVA.

 

[shaunuk]

Hey. I'm gonna assume you want a general purpose, work horse language.

The favoured languages in industry now are C, C++, Java and increasingly C# and Objective-C. The majority of enterprise software out there will be written in one or more of these languages.

If I were new to coding I'd just pick up C++ and/or Java. Java has the perk (depending on the situation) of being "managed code", which means you're not prone to allowing lower level blunders like memory corruption, which is particularly helpful when you're new (experienced coders still make these mistakes as well).

Might as well start here. Get on it.

http://www.cplusplus.com/

http://java.sun.com/docs/books/tutorial/

You can always PM me if you ever need anything mate.

 

[Xx1]

Can I learn Java without having a background in C or C++? I don't want to learn two languages at once; it will confuse me and I will have information mixed up between the two.

I see that Java is demanded in a lot of fields of the work field.

I'm taking a break from college (possibly around 1 or 2 years) and I'm working bull sh!t job just to get by and save up, but I want to teach myself something that will be useful for my future.

 

[shaunuk]

Can I learn Java without having a background in C or C++? I don't want to learn two languages at once; it will confuse me and I will have information mixed up between the two.

I see that Java is demanded in a lot of fields of the work field.

I'm taking a break from college (possibly around 1 or 2 years) and I'm working bull sh!t job just to get by and save up, but I want to teach myself something that will be useful for my future.

Yeap, you can learn Java without any background in C or C++, that's absolutely fine.

Cool OK so it's gonna be Java then. Stick with that for a bit. Get reading and writing bits of code

 

[Desdinova]

Fortran or COBOL :crackup:

 

[Teflon_Mcgee]

I say Java.

I'm an enigineer and do a LOT of programming.

In college I took a class in C, Object Oriented Programming (we used Java but it wasn't a learn Java class), and Data Structures (again we used Java but it wasn't a learn Java class.)

You'll notice I only took one language specific class (C.)
Now I program in C, C#, Java, Matlab, and assembly (mostly just C and assembly.)

You really only need to learn the basics of a language like C or Java.
Then you can pretty much program in C, C++, C#, and Java with no problem

After learning the basics you can easily learn generic stuff like Object Oriented Programming (OOP), memeory org., data structures, etc...

Java is good becuase it teaches OOP (unlike C) and it has good libraries for building GUIs.

After you learn that, C# is a breeze and allows really quick building of GUIs. In fact I use C# anytime I need to quickly build an app for a project.

For Java I recommend the Eclipse IDE. It's free (just google it.)
I have thousands of dollars worth of proffesional development software on my computer at work and Eclipse is better than most of it (of course I'm not a CS guy so I'm still a layman, relatively speaking.)

 

[backbreaker]

if you are planning for the future Objective-C. that's what all iphone applications are programmed in. not everyone can do them etiher. goldmine right now. we are having to tu rn away iphone app requests beucase we are getting so many.

as far as just pure practacility, php is still king.

 

[OTB]

if you are planning for the future Objective-C. that's what all iphone applications are programmed in. not everyone can do them etiher. goldmine right now. we are having to tu rn away iphone app requests beucase we are getting so many.

as far as just pure practacility, php is still king.

Just out of curiosity backbreaker... What exactly do you work as? (besides being a professional handicapper ;-)

 

[handle]

Java or C++ are good all-arounders. If you let us know what you're looking to do specifically we can help more -- i.e. a lot of scientific modeling has roots in C/C++.

 

[Xx1]

Java or C++ are good all-arounders. If you let us know what you're looking to do specifically we can help more -- i.e. a lot of scientific modeling has roots in C/C++.

I don't know 'exactly' what I'm looking for but here are some things:

• A programming language that probably won't get outdated or replaced within the next 5-10 years
• A programming language that doesn't require a background in 'another' language
• I'm a business major - management information systems - so it's not like I'm focused on science or engineering (it's also a field I probably will stay away from in this life time, the science/engineering, that is)
• A programming language that's possible to learn by yourself with online resources only (I've been out of the loop when it comes to computer technology, I'm not sure if any major programming languages nowadays require you to pay money for compilers or whatnot)

Now I'm still leaning towards Java. However, PHP is on my mind too.

 

[backbreaker]

Just out of curiosity backbreaker... What exactly do you work as? (besides being a professional handicapper ;-)

I own a web development company. I do alot of things actually, I don't work as or for anyone. I own a little real estate, own a little stock, have a couple of business ventures I am working on, I do spend most of my time at the track or at least alot of it, but a good chunk of my time is spent with the web development firm i own and I am a programmer / tech by trade. The avg day I get up at 3:15 in the morning, work out for an hour and a half, then "work" from 5:30 until about 11ish, give or take what needs to be done or who I need to talk to, grab a bite to eat if it's monday -wed run errands or do something with my fiancee or if I am really bored watch HRTV, wed-sun go to the track from 12:00 until 5pm, eat or keep working if need be until about 10. i stay busy.

I would also suggest staying away from coldfusion and DNN.

We don't do alot of java work... we've done a couple when the technlogy is absoultly necessary but java programmers are expensive and when we build a site, one of the things that is important is long term maintence, and long term maintence for a php/mysql based site is alot cheaper than bringing in a java guy. If we can help it we want to save the customer money. Then again, our main focus are small businesses, who want an ecommerce site or as well as social networking sites, both of which dont' necessarily require something that complex.

I am a a Flash Actionscript programmer by trade, and i'm pretty good at it, and if my life went to utter hell I would not have a problem finding a well paying job. Flash is one of the things you can easily tell the difference between a good programmer and an avg one.

 

[Xx1]

I forgot to mention this, but I'd like to learn a language that aids web site development. I had a passion for designing websites and I think I'm still pretty good at it.
Also, to put it another way, everyday, for the next 2 years I'm going to dedicate at least 2 hours a day to learning a language that I can put to use. I don't want to decide to study a programming language and then, a few months from now, think "d4mn, I should've started studying this one instead!"

So far I have the following on my mind: Java, PHP, Perl, Flash, SQL. What's your opinion on the difference between those 5 (or if you have additions, mention them, too)

 

[backbreaker]

you can't learn php without leanring SQL, they go hand and hand, LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, PHP/perl/python). most sites are lamp compliment.

I strongly recommend learning PHP/MySQL. Everyone on my staff knows it enough to fix code, even the non php guys. It's like the english of programming languages.

Perl is pretty job restrictive. not as many job opprotunities, as usually php is a more cost efficent solution

I'm not that big of a java fan but it has it's uses.

Flash has it's place and a good flash programmer... and by good I mean GOOD, not editing a flash template or some **** like that, will make every bit of 50-75 an hour. People will pay for good flash work.

ASP is not a bad language to learn as well, of the 4 biggest sites we have done to date, 3 of them HAD to be done in asp.net becuase of the speifications of the job and ASP programmers generally make more money than PHP programmers.

 

[jhonytaibu]

Hi Xx,
You really have set your mind and properly thought about what you have got to do in the future. With all your requirements I would suggest you to go with Java or PHP. I consider both of them equally good for developing a website. While java would go a little further providing you a some little more advantage of providing lesser maintenance to the site as PHP requires some good work even if a small change is required.

 

[shaunuk]

Well just learn Java then..and then get some C++ going. PHP will be p1ss easy after that (it would be anyway). And if you're gonna learn PHP, learn an SQL as well (might as well be MySQL).

as backbreaker said, Objective-C is the favoured language for iPhone apps. All the iPhone apps I've looked at (from a computer security consultant/code auditor industry perspective) are written in Objective-C. I was one of the few in the company who has a background in Objective-C so I was put on the job. The same goes for writing them - it's worth cracking onto it before everyone else does.

Just start with Java or C++ and see where that takes you. You'll no doubt learn other languages simultaneously and after depending on what you feel like setting out to do. Or if you were aiming for web apps...PHP + MySQL (my preference anyway).

 

[Xx1]

backbreaker said "you can't learn php without leanring SQL"

So is it impossible to just dive into PHP and use PHP practically or is it just preferred to learn SQL before PHP?

I'm leaning towards PHP now more than Java (possibly change my mind after getting an answer to the question above, lol). I feel that PHP is more practical in the fields of website development (my interest - partially)... I was thinking about digging deep into Perl, but for many reasons I feel that it's dying and also not significantly needed.

 

[shaunuk]

backbreaker said "you can't learn php without leanring SQL"

So is it impossible to just dive into PHP and use PHP practically or is it just preferred to learn SQL before PHP?

I'm leaning towards PHP now more than Java (possibly change my mind after getting an answer to the question above, lol). I feel that PHP is more practical in the fields of website development (my interest - partially)... I was thinking about digging deep into Perl, but for many reasons I feel that it's dying and also not significantly needed.

Nah he didn't really mean that as such. Basically SQL languages - i.e. Structured Query Language - is the language a database (i.e. MySQL, MS SQL server, Oracle) understands. So, for example, every time you want to retrieve information out of a database, or put data in, or delete data, create new tables, etc, you send commands to the database server in the form of SQL commands.

Let's say you develop, for instance, a guestbook or a forum (like this one). Everything people post on here gets stored in a database. The PHP applications making up the forum software sends SQL commands to SoSuave's database server everytime you request to view a thread. . .the database sends the thread's posts back, etc....eventually your browser interprets the html it eventually receives. . . and that's how you're reading this post.

So basically, in order to do REAL web programming i.e. write something that's actually useful in practice and not limited by "hacked together solutions", you're gonna have to learn a bit about databases and its SQL language. It's not overly hard, no worries.

So start learning PHP. Actually learn the language i.e. its syntax and all the library functions it has to offer (its got powerful APIs [Application Programmers Interface] )...and after you can actually write little web apps with it, install MySQL (for instance...) and read up on installing it, configuring it, the SQL language.

But is writing web apps actually what you're after? I'm not by any means saying that PHP is exclusively a web app language (though that is what it's mostly used for), but Java or C++ would be a better choice for just coding applications.

 

[lorekeeper]

everythings been said already, so just throwng in my 2 cents

setup a LAMP server (or WAMP if you want)

learn PHP and SQL, with time you should get good enough to create some stable and secure applications, and then look into performance, such as load balancing and caching.

however, I'd also look into coding for the iphone and mobile devices. that's where its all at now. within a year or so, people looking for mobile developers should increase exponentially.

 

[mrRuckus]

Do a few SQL online tutorials and you'll be well on your way to knowing SQL. It's not very complicated at all and most of the time you don't need complex queries. You can learn those as you need them to speed up slow things and such...

 

[bigjohnson]

If you want to write actual software, learn C and C++, everything else (well, almost) is essentially a script running on a platform that was written in C or C++.