Programming Languages

Remove all ads!

In my university, Java is taught freshmen as a programming language. It seems good enough but I want to hear your ideas about programming languages. Which is the best and which are good for doing what(for example for making games or for web based applications). I think Java is good for web applications and C++ is good for making games. I didn't make a poll because there are so many of them. Now... ideas?

 

I'm learning Java at my university. It's an excellent language to start with; it's rather similar to C++, but with many more basic classes built in, so less has to be actually coded. Memory usage is also much simpler. If you learn Java, you'll be in a good position to pick up C++ very quickly.

To put it into context, I've almost finished two straight semesters of learning Java, and in the beginning of June I get one week of lectures and lab sessions (20 hours) in C++, and after that I'll be capable of doing much the same in it as I can in Java.

I also learned Python for a semester. It's a very simple language, and fast, but Java has the rigid structure that makes it much better for beginners.

 

I have had courses in Assembly, C#, VHDL and Visual Basic and also done some projects in all of them. Basically all of them are for different uses but... VHDL was maybe the nicest one to work with but also the most frustrating.

Oh... I also hate programming, which is why I will not even try to learn anything more than I have to.

 

Having programmed for 2 years with Java, I can tell you that you should avoid it like the plague. (no pointers... next!)
Same advice goes for C++, which has a very bad function pointer system, and my programming style with this type of language is all about having fun with data and function pointers, so I couldn't work with that.

So I would suggest C, if you can do Java, you'll have absolutely no problems with C, the syntax is almost exactly the same, except it is not object-orientated, which can be a good thing.

BTW, there is hardly any difference between Java, Python, C[++/#], Basic, PHP, ASP and whatnot(well okay, their applications differ), since they are all imperical languages. Meaning that you'll have to tell the interpreter/compiler every freaking step, because it is too dumb to figure out the rest for itself.
Unlike Prolog and Lisp, both used for AI programming, Lisp is even used by NASA for their spaceprograms.

So try Common Lisp for a change, it strips away all the syntax nonsense and leaves only the programming-stuff, such as recursion, interpreting, metalinguistic abstraction and even allowing you to handle functions as data, which is mega-awesome.
It is not a difficult language, absolutely not, there is only one entity in the syntax, and that is Reversed Polish Notation, so it's like a game of Go, you learn the rules in 30 seconds, and you have endless possibilities with strategies.
As a matter of fact, universities like MIT even use Lisp for the programming classes. With the Opencourseware project you can even download the videos and the book (like I have) and study it for yourself.

The problem I have with other languages is that at some points I hit a wall, I have an idea which I can't express(at which point I start cussing to the computer).
For example, two months ago, I had designed a large program for C++, but when I was programming it, I got loads of compiler errors, turns out that C++ doesn't support function pointers, only member pointers, and that just nullifies the whole idea of function pointers.

In Lisp I don't have that, it is so abstract that I can explain everything without work-arounds. It's true that Lisp doesn't have pointers(because pointers are workarounds), but the syntax is so abstract that that is not a problem.

[ May 23, 2006, 20:19: Message edited by: Morgoth ]

 

I learnt BASIC as a kid and COBOL at university. And computers didn't crash in those days. Poke. Ooh, and that Apple language that made the turtle move around the screen . . . was that LOGO?

 

It does, but I also had to state to which class this member function belonged, and what I had was an interface between multiple threads used by a dozen of different classes using callbacks(hence the function pointers)

[ May 23, 2006, 22:01: Message edited by: Morgoth ]

 

If you have to study some programming language, you might as well choose a cross-OS compatible one. Like MONO. This way all your apps work on all systems.

 

Next year I will learn C++ at university and it is very similar to Java and it is the most widespread one I think.

And AFAIK Java can work on different OS (at least in windows and Linux IIRC)

 

My brush with programming was brief. It bored me. The hardware was more interesting to me.
However I do date back to Fortran, Cobol and Basic. So I guess dmc and I are the same age.

I did like basic and all the fun I had messing with the old dos files.

 

I designed a whole Hangman game entirely in LOGO.. It was brilliant, although it was a bit slow toward the end when the poor old turtle had to redraw the whole gallows and man each time you got a letter wrong.

 

First time hearing anything about turtle logos and WTFuxor...

 

Bah. You aren't a real programmer until you have programmed the turtle on LOGO.