Best Language!

[Everpeace]

What do you think is the best language to learn to program in if you are looking for something which is best overall? If it were me, I would say Java. Simply because it:


1. Free
2. Easy
3. Powerful
4. Crossplatform compatible
5. Suitable for many uses

 

[nihilistic]

Java has its uses, but it also has its pitfalls:

Java sucks for the following reasons:

1. It's slow
2. It's a memory hogger
3. It's built from the ground up to be so object-oriented and advanced that to get a passable and evaluable null pointer to a class, you often need to create another class to mask that pointer.
4. It's damn wordy like basic.

 

[CruddyLeper]

I would say it depends entirely on what sort of programs you want to write - and how competent you are to begin with.

C++ is still pretty well regarded, because it lets you develop pretty quick and gives very fast programs. There's a LOT of source code around to look at. HOWEVER, if you don't have the theory to begin with, it's very frustrating at the start.

Java, on the other hand, doesn't give quick programs. Again there's a lot of source. The difference is you can start to see quick results... and it's not as difficult to get into as C++. Nihilistic has already pointed out the down sides.

Best language for beginners I would say is still Basic. Visual Basic even better. Again lots of source, quick results, but much the easiest for figuring out how programming works.

Mind you, maybe a quick course in plain C would leave you ready for a course in object orientated stuff and then then leap to C++ or Java - that's the way I'm going after messing about with older methods for a long time.

 

[funxus]

I started using Visual Basic and it's still the one I'm using. I think the best part in VB is that it's easy and not most of the things you're doing are very logic, even for newbies.

I get a feeling that VB doesn't get you down on the low levels, most of the code is allready done for you and it can only be used in Windows. Not until I read a bit about Java did I get how things worked down at the binary level and things behind the scenes.

So, VB if you want to make quick, good looking, visible applications for Windows.

 

[Everpeace]

Reguarding Java as being slow and a memory hogger, I totally disagree. Maybe you need to check out the latest version, nihilistic. But about it being rather wordy, you can always use an IDE to build stuff without a single line of code.

Recently though on the market scene, Microsoft seems to be pushing it's .NET technologies a lot. After a some looking I might say it is also quite good as a language, but the problem is that it costs a lot. (And same applies to Visual Basic)