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I was wondering if you guys could reccommend what language you think I would benifit from most. I want to learn perl because I heard it was a powerful and useful language. Yet I want to learn C++ because I just read a TCP/IP book and it seemed interresting and I wanted to learn more about it. Most of the stuff I have seen about TCP/IP involves C++ so I figure I should learn that too. Which should I start with? Thanks in advance!
Well I would recommend C++ if your interested enough. C++ being one of the hardest languages out there takes alot of time and practice, But if you were gonna do things like make web browseres and servers and things i would recomend perl.
I'm going to learn both this year, (so I haven't learned either yet) but as far as I know, it totally depends on what you want to do. I've heard that if you want to learn multiple languages it's good to start with C++ bc then it's supposedly easier to learn the others, but really once you've learned any of them it becomes easier to learn the others. Somebody (that knows what they're talking about...unlike me :p) please list some specific uses for each language....like which is better at what. Thanks
-Keezel
Yes, Uses for the languages would be a big help!
I would recomend learning c++ before you learn perl. I know java, and am in the process of taking classes on c++, but I have attended many lectures on perl and have read quite a bit.
From what I can tell, a good knowledge of standard programming tecniques like those learned in c++ will be highly benificial to have before attempting perl. Also, a good background of unix will help out a lot.
Perl FAQ
You can pretty much do anything you want in either language. Just keep in mind that perl is a scripting (interpreted) language, whereas C++ is a compiled language. If you're looking to write security tools and whatnot, you can use either one. I personally use C and C++. I've seen portscanners, web-vulnerability testers, servers, etc, written in both perl and C++, so it's really a matter of preference more than anything. Besides, either one will get you a job if you're proficient enough.
-noix-
Perl is great for handling strings and doing script work. Handling strings in C++ can be a pain. However, C++ is very powerful and once you learn it the other languages come very easily. Actually most of the syntax in perl is similar to C++, even if you can decide to format your code differently in perl.
Again, it all depends on what you want to do and in what direction you are heading. For general purpose both are great. For scripts go with perl. For more power uses go with C++.
Guidance...
for me i'll say take the c++ first tehn go to more complicated one there a lot to learn in in c++ program, there a lot of tutorials aboit c++ and perl in the net
try to thinks which script do you prefer the most and you will used the most perl is good but i think c++ is more powerful than perl they they have somthin in common ive read some perl script but only those simple math program and other, other script emerge from c++ script so better take the C++ first than the other scripts
Someone said that learning C++ would help you out in learning other languages and I totally agree with that. Ive been dealing with C++ for two years know, and Ive learned quite a bit about java and im also starting with perl, this last two I believe have been easier to learn due to my previous knowledge of C++. Anyways C++ is still my favorite, maybe because its the one I use most, or although I cant make a judgement right now, because its the better one of the three.
The point is I recommend learning C++ first, if it helped me It might as well help you
java, php, perl and c++ have a lot of stuff similar to C ( dare I say stuff that originated in C )
so why not go for C first...
A lot of (mostly young) people say why first learn C and not just start with C++...
Well somewhere allong the road you will see (proppably) that starting with C you could have avoided a lot of stupid mistakes you made with your C++ !!
I would recommend both but start with C++ as most suggested here. I have notcied that most exploits posted are in C.
I know Perl pretty well and will comment on the power of it that I have discovered...
Perl is great for the following:
[list=a][*]Great for LAN and system administrative tasks[*]Working with text files: logs, reports, etc[*]Has great regular expression searching[/list=a]
SAMS has a learn perl in 21 days book which is descent beginner book. O'Reilly has some good intermediate Perl books.
Hope this helps, enjoy! :jams:
Quote:
Originally posted here by the_JinX
java, php, perl and c++ have a lot of stuff similar to C ( dare I say stuff that originated in C )
so why not go for C first...
A lot of (mostly young) people say why first learn C and not just start with C++...
Well somewhere allong the road you will see (proppably) that starting with C you could have avoided a lot of stupid mistakes you made with your C++ !!
The advantage to NOT doing this (learning c before c++) is object oriented. If one were to learn to program Object Oriented first, then they wouldnt have to convert themselves later in the long run. The advantage to programing OO far outways the mistakes one would make in c++ by not learning c first).
Actually there are some major differences between C VC++ C++... yeah they are the same in some ways but you get commands & tools that normally wouldn't be available.
VC++ is the visual drag and drop stuff
Meanwhile C++ would sometimes be like a freebie & mainly console based compiler.
:D
Sams books are ok but I usually stay away from those "teach yourself" stuff... Personally I hate sams teach yourself books... the name says it all "teach yourself" meanwhile the book itself is useless and at times very confuseing or just downright boreing. I once saw a sams teach yourself book about "HTML" yet the entire book actually had nothing to do with actually learning HTML and had nearly 500 pages on how to point and click stuff in frontpage. And have you ever read sams teach yourself C++?? Yuck, I hated it... They often have a bad habbit of over explianing things to the so called noobie then tottaly confuseing the more advanced peaple with odd and over the top code and thick and disorganized pages.Quote:
Originally posted here by ric-o
SAMS has a learn perl in 21 days book which is descent beginner book. O'Reilly has some good intermediate Perl books.
I am personally partial to C. C is just at the right level of abstraction for me (low-level), whereas C++ is a bit too abstract. I'm definitely not saying that C++ is the devil, because I love it. I'm also saying that C is alot easier to learn than C++ as C isn't as big of a language as C++. I began with C++, and thought it was a great language for a beginner. After awhile I moved to learning C, which I thought was incredible because of how low-level it was compared to C++. People will also say that C++ is as fast as C, which I'm sure if programmed by a C++ expert it would be. However, I have done a simple timing test for C and C++ console output functions that proves C is faster than C++ in the sense of those two functions, which does not necessarily determine the overall speed of the two languages. I'm basically saying that I tested two different output functions (puts() and cout), and the C function puts() left cout in the dust. This does NOT mean, however, that all C code is faster than C++, I'm simply stating my findings from one test with two functions.
EDIT: And VC++ is NOT drag and drop. It is a fully featured software development environment.
-noix-
You both mistaken then corrected yourself... good for you. And yes it is fully featured with wizards that produce mass amounts of utter bullshit you'll probably never use and tools that let you drop and drag or sometimes even point and click what you'd normally need to code in by yourself.Quote:
Originally posted here by Nitro
EDIT: And VC++ is NOT drag and drop. It is a fully featured software development environment.
Also C would be very close but more of mid-way upper/lower level third generation programing language where as the fourth generation programming language would be like C++, ADA, Pascal, Visual Basic, Visual C++, & (ect)
Meanwhile the really true low level stuff would be more like assembly & binary... the stuff that litterally made all of this possable.
There is a big difference between the applications of PERL and C++. PERL is more of a scripting language, extremly useful for CGI scripts and LAN admin tasks. It's not really something I would recomend for a first langauge. C++ is a object oriented compiled language which while VERY powerful, can be mind bending for beginners, especially with all the low level memory managment functions of C++. If you are looking for a first language give JAVA a look, or maybe even PYTHON.