I'm pretty good with computers. My brother is a computer programmer for a military contracted company, so I already know a lot from him about how the languages work, and I have access to his textbooks and brain if I need. Should I start with C/C++ or Java or something else? Also, how hard is it to learn Basic? I love computers and yeah, I'm a geek and I want to know how they work better and even though I'd like to take a computer class in college, there are other things I'd like to fit into my schedule. Thanks for any help!
No Picture2008-07-17T22:05:38Z
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There are so many programming languages available in computer world the selection of programming language is depends upon your interest of areas.
If Your are interested in System programming then try C, C++, VC++, C# , java , J2EE , J2ME and if you are interested in web programming then start ASP, JSP, PHP, ASP .NET (C# and VB)
Regards, Milind Kansagara. Web Developer (Cybercomcreation) http://milindkansagara1984.blogspot.com
There is no absolute, universal 'easiest' language. Some are easy for some people to learn but not so easy for others, and vice versa. Python is one of the easiest to learn and highly recommended for beginners. BASIC is also fairly easy to learn, but some people believe BASIC teaches programmers bad habits and should thus be avoided; I'm undecided on that myself. Pascal is about the same as BASIC, at least based on what I remember from my short fling with it. C is a little more difficult (but nice and powerful), and C++ is a little more difficult than that (OOP can be ugly to learn for a beginner). Some flavor of assembly might be considered 'most difficult,' but it's really just time-consuming to code in. You also have to be very careful about using your data in its proper context, otherwise you can get wildly unpredictable results (some are just wrong while others can corrupt other data or even crash your system). I actually prefer assembly because it removes all the abstraction other languages introduce. I can handle thinking procedurally better than an OOP approach. You could also do programming with a hex editor, if you are so inclined. That would probably be the most difficult approach short of using binary. To do that you'd probably have to write your own compiler/assembler, and you'd have to have either an excellent memory or a very thorough yet well organized reference manual.
Learn basic computer science concepts first. The language you choose thereafter is simply a matter of personal preference and practicality.
That being said, if I had to recommend a language for a first time programmer, I would suggest Java (even though my personal preference is for C++).
Java is a powerful, modern, and fully-featured programming language with wide operating system support. Development tools and environments are usually free. The language supports a wide array of applications from web development, to desktop GUI applications and client-server applications.
I'd go with C#, it has similar syntax to Java/C++ so that is an easy transition. Since it is a .NET language you would be able to pick up VB.NET easily as well.
HTML is not really a programming language.
For the web, I'd go with PHP, there are a lot of cheap hosting sites that you could get a PHP/MySQL server and learn PHP. You'll understand the basics of Web programming that would transition to other languages. There is a lot of community support for PHP.
If you are short on time and want to learn web programming, then I would go with PHP. It is pretty easy to learn and there are a ton of resources available. Java and C++ are pretty hard-core languages and will take a lot of time to learn to use. The key is learning your first language. Once you understand the concepts, syntax for a specific language is easy to pick up.