? on programming lang's

this is going to be a messed up ? but iam a student and i have to take some programing coures. now i know that there is something like 400 different lang's well in total thats with adding the real old ones. but what is one or two of the most widely used lang's used?
if you can help thanks

Just off the top of my head:

Perl
C++
VB

C++,
Java,
VB or C#

- T

C is probably the most widely used language (although feel free to correct me if I'm wrong in this), and the majority of the Linux kernel, plus the command line tools for *nix, are written in it. It's what's know as a middle-level language, i.e. it retains some aspects of low-level languages (individual bit manipulation is just one), but still looks slightly comprehensible to humans.

VB is what I'd recommend as the easiest language to start off with if you want to work with Windows. It's based on drag-and-drop components with some object oreintated code behind it. It's fairly easy to learn, flexible enough to perform a lot of the tasks you would ever want to do (especially because you can access the Windows API and DLLs, where MS have done a lot of the work for you) and is okay for basic shareware applications for Windows.

Assembly is the most difficult language to learn (okay, so there's pure machine code, but nobody uses that any more unless you're working for NASA), but produces the smallest executable files and executes the fastest. I wouldn't recommend even trying to learn assembly though until you've done some C.

If you're on Windows and looking to start programming. pick up the Working Model Edition (WME) of VB (it comes with most learning VB books) and start from there. You've got all the features that you could possibly need for beginning programming, and the WME is free, although you don't get a compiler or any help files.

Once you reach the limits of VB, pick up a copy of 'The C Programming Language' (affectionately know as 'K&R', after it's founders - the inventors of the C language) and start off from there.

Hope this helps. :)

Quote:

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Originally posted here by pwaring
Assembly is the most difficult language to learn (okay, so there's pure machine code, but nobody uses that any more unless you're working for NASA), but produces the smallest executable files and executes the fastest. I wouldn't recommend even trying to learn assembly though until you've done some C.

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I disagree to this. Nobody uses assembly anymore to create fast code. You have to be a really good assembly programmer to beat a good c(++)-compiler creating fast code. The optimization of the compilers is so good now that there isn't much gain in writing assembley. It's just too complex, you can't create compact fast running code like in c(++). Assembley was used in graphics programming earlier as it needed to be fast, but with directX and other graphic libraries there isn't any need for that either.

well since youre a student (like myself) i'll assume very little or no programming experience..

VB is a good one to start off with as it is a lot like pseudocode (structured english) and is relatively easy to debug and use due to the fairly nice GUI interface that you get with it, you may even have the software at home without knowing it too (it comes as part of access database)

C++ and Java are good to look at after you have done a little bit of VB or a similar 'introductory' language, but i tend to lean towards Java as the errors in compiling don't seem to be as 'cryptic' as C++

thats what i think anyway, hope it is of some help

Well, IMHO, I think C is fairly a very good one. Also, assembly, for me, isn't nessacarily fast, it all depends on how you make it to be. I do, however, agree that VisualBasic is mostly drag and drop and is fairly easy to use. It is good for making small to medium applications in windows and ActiveX controls.

Hello,Applaud to all
but IMHO, first decide what you want to do
if you are not from programming background
you'll certainly like C
where the things gets better with C++ ....(assuming you will progress in learning more)
if you want to do system programming (this is the kind of area developing now)
e.g. embedded system / devices in use then C/C++ will help
but if you want to do application programming better start of with C++ and then go to JAVA
no lang. requires previous knowledge but just follow eveolutinary model..:)
anyway first start with C/C++ and find it for userself
if you go for application programming VB and a Database will be handy though not necessary.
Happy programming..

At the school I am attending C is the basic requirement for all my classes. I am not saying it is the best, and I am not saying this is the one I would personally suggest, but if you are going for a degree. I would suggest getting it out of the way. You can always pick the one you really want to learn after.

I would have to say start out with VB, PERL, or Python. Then move up to C when ready :)

I agree with what seems to be a consesus of the importance of C; however, I would recommend becoming familiar with C++ as well. Much of the syntax and philosophies behind C++ are carried on in other languages and a firm grasp of C/C++ will make it easier to understand them (for example, java, perl, and php to varying degrees are all fairly similar to C++).

I would recommend at least becoming passibly familiar with java (it can be real beneficial if you are for example developing products for both unix and windows in that you can have basically one source tree).

Assembly is something that after you are comfortable with a language, say C, that it might be worthwhile to be somewhat aquainted with; however, I would recommend against spending too much time on it. Most of the modern compilers are far better at reducing instructions and being fairly creative in assembly and it would be somewhat difficult to improve upon what they do, not to mention god awfully time consuming to beat them. It would be a very rare occasion to have to do something in assembly, not to mention, it is going to be different for every processor thatt you run across and once you start talking about different manufacturers (intel v. sun), you can get mind numbing differences. I would recommend becoming familiar with the basic concepts of assembly and the basic operation of it, but would recommend against trying to learn one specific processors code, at least until you have a strong grasp on some of the more visible languages.

Neb

VB is great if your new to programing or if you want to make a program very quickly. C++ is great its like VB, only stronger.

Actually, there are more like 7000 programming languages out there, each with varying degrees of support.

Personally, I learned to program with VB 6, and the moved to C++ when I got to college. I found that VB was good because it was very easy to teach basic programming concepts (for, while, if then else, etc...) without having to worry about complex errors. After learning C++, I found the transition to C to be fairly easy, just some different headers and functions, and I can't use some of the "neat" OO functionality of C++, but it is fairly easy to learn coming from C. I would imagine that if you were going from C to C++ it would be slightly more difficult to grasp the OO and polymorphic concepts in C++.

Other good programming languages are: PHP, Perl, and Java (I personally despise Java, but that is just cause my experiences with it have been less than pleasant). Each language has its ups and downs, and you should always choose the language based on the application you'd like to make, not because of personal preference. Picking up new languages is easy, so the best thing to do is to choose languages that best suit the application you need it for (i.e. text parsing would be PERL)

Regards,
Wizeman

I recently started learning some PERL. This is my first programming experience since Basic in High School. I like it; it seems like a good first step. I wouldn't know for sure though since I have not learned the other languages such as C and VB...

As an instructor who has seen students with varying degrees of programming skills in different languages, I believe that being competent in the following programming languages will give you all of the background you need to learn a new language in a very short amount of time:

Assembly - required to undesrtand how a machine actually interprets high-level commands. For the purpose of instruction, I would focus upon x86 assembly. Once you are familiar with that, then you can move on to other architectures if you are interested in further expanding your knowledge of assembly. I would also suggest limiting yourself to working within a 16-bit environment as you learn, for a 32-bit environment has many more features which you will be required to learn to get good asm programs.

C++ - an object orienented programming language built upon C (considered by many computer scientists to be the most dangerous high-level language), an imperative language, with greater readability, writability and reliability.

If you wish to further delve into different programming languages, Java is a very simple language to learn once you are very familiar with C++. Many others have suggested VB and Python, but the problem with these languages is that they are platform specific, created for Windows and Linux, respectively. For the time-being, work with portable languages, and learn other, more platform specific languages, when the need arises, either for a job, a class or for a project of your own. Furthermore, languages such as Perl and PHP are interpreted languages, rather than compiled languages. These should be extremely simple to learn once you have a solid background in programming, and are generally used for specific purposes, while languages such as C++ will allow you the flexibility to do nearly anything you wish to do.

AJ