Which programming language should I learn?

[BlasterBates]

Aaprt from you don't even know what my position is on AGW and therefore your claim makes no sense, I'm a computer scientist rather than a C++ dinosaur looking for reasons to hate Java.

That doesn't explain your debugger problem, which you use as proof Java is slow. Your 30min comment would suggest a slow-down of about 1000X. You're using a provably unrepresentative data-point to form your very own hockey-stick.

Go back to the wishy washy AGW topics where you can make these claims with impunity.

Very eloquent speech, that answered not one single point in the previous post about why Java is slow.

Sums it up really.

[Cliphead]

Been following this thread with interest. Not having done any software development since Clipper / FoxPro days or any other coding outside of shell scripting I've been thinking about learning some language properly.

Some time ago ClientCo sent me Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate so lots of tools to play with and here we go again...

What to start with? Visual Basic, C# or get straight into C++? I wouldn't be starting from scratch and I'm not looking to add a dev skill to my CV just want to tinker around with some projects for pleasure.

[d000hg]

Very eloquent speech, that answered not one single point in the previous post about why Java is slow.

Sums it up really.

I was focusing on your ridiculous point about 30min debugging being down to Java's speed.

I don't see why I should need to respond to points on some random web-page that looks like it was put together by a teenager in 1997. There's no need for a philosophical debate, Java performance has been investigated in great depth by many and results can be found online. If I put a web-page together saying "Java is 10X faster than C" I doubt you'd feel the need to respond.

Do they really pay you for writing code?

[d000hg]

What to start with? Visual Basic, C# or get straight into C++? I wouldn't be starting from scratch and I'm not looking to add a dev skill to my CV just want to tinker around with some projects for pleasure.

C# is quite nice as a language, has great standard libraries and easy visual tools for GUI, etc, so I'd recommend that based on you using VS. For playing with code, C++ is overkill, and if you're using VB.net you might as well just use C# instead unless you really love VB syntax.

[BlasterBates]

I was focusing on your ridiculous point about 30min debugging being down to Java's speed.

I don't see why I should need to respond to points on some random web-page that looks like it was put together by a teenager in 1997. There's no need for a philosophical debate, Java performance has been investigated in great depth by many and results can be found online. If I put a web-page together saying "Java is 10X faster than C" I doubt you'd feel the need to respond.

Do they really pay you for writing code?

You still haven't adressed the points, and in fact the debugger is slower by a factor as suggested by the "teenager" (several hundred percent). Since the debugger obviously works reasonably well most of the time (i.e. small applications and when it doesn't need to cope with large data sets), I suspect that Sun Microsystems, who invented Java, don't see the need to invest an enormous effort putting in optimisations, which weren't necessary in the C++ version. Anyway I can see you're not going to argue the points, so I think we can agree to disagree, and you can go back to your optimisation work.

[Cliphead]

C# is quite nice as a language, has great standard libraries and easy visual tools for GUI, etc, so I'd recommend that based on you using VS. For playing with code, C++ is overkill, and if you're using VB.net you might as well just use C# instead unless you really love VB syntax.

C# it is then.

[sasguru]

Do they really pay you for writing code?

Quite possibly they do pay him. The shortage of devlopers in Germany means they have to take any dreck they can get.
BB wouldn't last a second anywhere where real bright developers are e.g. the City.
That's why he has to traipse all the way to a foreign country in order to get less money than he would at home.

[Churchill]

Been following this thread with interest. Not having done any software development since Clipper / FoxPro days or any other coding outside of shell scripting I've been thinking about learning some language properly.

Some time ago ClientCo sent me Visual Studio 2010 Ultimate so lots of tools to play with and here we go again...

What to start with? Visual Basic, C# or get straight into C++? I wouldn't be starting from scratch and I'm not looking to add a dev skill to my CV just want to tinker around with some projects for pleasure.

Use whichever language you feel most comfortable with. I would suggest that you spend time getting to know the VS2010 IDE first, it has its foibles and really the last thing you want to be doing is learning a new language and the IDE.

Good luck.

Any questions drop me a PM.

[Churchill]

Typical SASGURU sh!te

That was constructive.

[Cliphead]

Use whichever language you feel most comfortable with. I would suggest that you spend time getting to know the VS2010 IDE first, it has its foibles and really the last thing you want to be doing is learning a new language and the IDE.

Good luck.

Any questions drop me a PM.

Cheers Churchy! Found what seems to be a decent online course for C# so having a crack at that right now. The IDE is a bit daunting to be honest but the usual build, debug stuff is there and so far so good.

Visual C# .NET Programming