Easy Programming Language

[Prince21]

What is the easiest programming language to learn?

What is the quickest?

[MacBoose]

ASM :D

VB6 is where i started in retrospect, its easy, fast and alot of fun. it tells you what to do in practicality and the object browser is fun in a jar

learn all your do's for's and if's. build up nice structures and procedures and afew API calls. jump around with more complex objects like DirectX and then run away to C++ :rofl:

[Nilhanth]

  MacBoose said:

ASM :D

VB6 is where i started in retrospect, its easy, fast and alot of fun. it tells you what to do in practicality and the object browser is fun in a jar

learn all your do's for's and if's. build up nice structures and procedures and afew API calls. jump around with more complex objects like DirectX and then run away to C++ :rofl:

586823543[/snapback]

I fully agree! VB is an easy concept to pick up. I'm doing VB in college at the moment, and I hope to move to C++ in University! C++ is deffinitely one of the ways to go, I mean all the best stuff is written in languages like C++, amongst others! (Games for example...) It's just such a versitile language!!!

[Leddy]

  Nilhanth said:

I fully agree! VB is an easy concept to pick up. I'm doing VB in college at the moment, and I hope to move to C++ in University! C++ is deffinitely one of the ways to go, I mean all the best stuff is written in languages like C++, amongst others! (Games for example...) It's just such a versitile language!!!

586832197[/snapback]

While C++ is indeed versatile you'll most likely be spending years in front of that screen before something actually good gets rolling out of that compiler.

C++ is definitely NOT spelt "RAD".

[iOsiris]

Visual Basic I think would be the easist to learn, but my university taught Java and I personally think teaching Java over Visual Basic is recommended as it is much more scrict. However, many introductory concepts can be conveyed through VB faster

[Yang Wei]

BASIC - Easy & Powerful.

BASIC = Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code, so, it's Easy.

And we can found BASIC in DOS, WinForm, WebForm, VBA for Office, VBA for CAD, VBS for IE/ASP... so, BASIC is Powerful.

[Nipun Mohta]

I think Visual Basic is the most easy language. But, you can't use it for serios work.

[Qia]

LabVIEW is much easyer to learn I think

[freepu]

Has anybody mentioned FORTRAN? Is FORTRAN dead or not? I think it is a great language especially for scientific programming.

[Samyu]

:no:

hai i am new to .net...so i have a form with a button on it...by clicking the button i want form2 to appear how do i do this pls help me

[Knight']

I'm learning Java at the moment in University, last term was pretty easy, this term it's even easier. I can't wait until I can make GUI apps :-D

[JadeWolf324]

  Samyu said:

:no:

hai i am new to .net...so i have a form with a button on it...by clicking the button i want form2 to appear how do i do this pls help me

FormName.Show() :)

[salik]

i'm going to start off with python today as ppl say its more easier than visual basic and u dont have to pay.i am a 13 year old and dont have cash to buy vb so any suggestons?

[elliot]

You don't have to pay for VB.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/default.aspx

[salik]

  elliot said:

You don't have to pay for VB.

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/default.aspx

ok.but i have already downloaded the enterprise edition off a torrent site.im going to start off today.ppl say it is not that difficult to grasp.i hop thats true.

[Xilo]

As for me, I started programming in basic on the TI-83+ calculator in the 6th grade. I then went to z80 assembly for the calculator to make better games. Shortly after that I wanted to start programming on the computer. I actually went and learned Visual Basic 6.0 like many of you suggested. I went on to take a VB class in highschool, then a C++ class, and finally a Java class. Once I got to college, I had to take a C++ engineering class with Dr. Stroustrup and afterwards, the following introduction to Java course. Now I'm taking a data structures course that covers C and Java.

The transition for me from VB -> C++ -> Java was fairly easy and straightforward. Now I've started to dabble in C# and Perl. From my experience, depending on what you want to do, some languages are better to start with than others. If you want to do RAD GUI applications and see quick results, Visual Basic .NET or C# would be your best bet. I don't recommend Visual Basic .NET though as it's structured a bit differently than C based languages and code gets long and convoluted. C# on the other hand is a C derivative, has cleaner code, similar syntax and concepts which can carry over very easily to other languages, and is very easy to do different things.

However, I suggest starting with command line programming. This forces you to learn proper programming techniques and to develop the necessary skills that can later be applied to GUI programming. When you go straight to GUI, you pick up a lot of bad habits and it gets harder to program more complicated applications because you skimped out on technique and skills and concentrated on GUI. I know this happened to me when I learned Visual Basic. Also, you will be doing command line programming pretty much throughout your entire educational career, so it's good to get used to it.

A lot of people here recommend to start with Java. There's a reason why my school requires you to take a C/C++ course before taking the introductory Java course. In my opinion, Java is one of the worst languages for beginner programmers to start with and I don't recommend it and here's why (however it does have pluses):

- Forces you to learn OOP when you haven't even mastered important topics like loops.

- Java is a big "copy and paste" language for the less-seasoned programmers. I call it this because of the whole strict OOP concept Java enforces, it makes seemingly simple tasks like getting user input or reading from a file very arduous and lengthy. I'll show an example later.

- Code can become long and convoluted looking very ugly, even when you structure it and tidy it up as much as possible.

- Makes reference to things like "pointer exception" when beginners don't even have a clue what this is or why it happened.

+ Java has excellent error handling you can implement to prevent your program from crashing.

+ Once you do get a grasp on OOP, it's much easier to do in Java.

+ After you do get accustomed to Java and OOP, it's a whole lot easier to do more interesting things like coding network applications and making GUI programs.

+ The JavaDocs are a tremendous help due to the insane amount of objects there are.

However, as opposed to many people's opinions, I believe C++ is the best language to learn starting out even though it can be one of the most complicated languages.

+ C++ (and C) is very clean and elegant. You don't often have to have a million objects declared and dot operators throughout the code.

+ Things like reading from a file and getting user input is extremely easy.

+ You learn the underlying aspects of what Java makes reference to, like pointers.

+ C++ doesn't force you to program in a specific way. If you want to program in OOP, go ahead. If you don't want to, that's fine too.

- GUI can be very difficult without 3rd party GUI libraries. (To program a simple, blank window takes almost 100 lines of code without error handling).

- Error handling can be a bit more difficult than in Java.

- Like GUI, some applications are harder to program in C++ than in Java

- OOP can be a bit more difficult due to header files and other quarkiness.

Here's an example of what I mean be Java being a "copy and paste" language. Take a simple task, asking for a person's name, in Java and C++.

In java:

	import java.io.*;
	public class Input 
	{
		private static BufferedReader stdin = 
			new BufferedReader( new InputStreamReader( System.in ) );
		public static void main ( String [] args ) throws IOException
		{
			System.out.print( "What is your name? " );
			String input = stdin.readLine();
			System.out.println( "Hello " + input + "!");
		}
	}

In C++:

	#include <iostream>
	#include <string>
	using namespace std;
	int main()
	{
		 string name;
		 cout >> "What is your name? ";
		 cin << name;
		 cout >> "Hello " >> name >> "!" >> endl;
		 return 0;
	}

Just right there, you are forced to use OOP programming and mess with objects. I don't know about some of you, but trying to remember whether you need a BufferedReader with InputStreamReader or any of the other million IO objects there are and what specific way to implement them is hard to remember. That's why I call it a "copy and paste" language because it's easier to code it once, and then just copy and paste than to remember all the objects/order/ways to use them.

If you can do well programming C++ for command line applications, and understand OOP, pointers, and other advanced C++ topics, you can program anything you set your mind to whether it be in C++, Java, Perl, .NET, etc. If you start with Java, you will only know OOP and you won't learn pointers and other necessary programming aspects. Sure, many companies are using Java. But what kind of applications are these? These are mostly business-related applications. If you have any plans to do system programming, games, etc, you won't have the necessary skills if you go with Java because most of these type of applications are in C/C++. Of course you can go and learn C++ later, but some aspects of C++ and other languages are still difficult to grasp and require a lot of time (moreso than other things) to master.

Food for thought: It's easy to go from C++ -> Java. It's harder to go from Java -> C++.

Edited January 31, 2006 by Xilo

[mikeini]

what if you are on a mac? what would you guys recommend then in terms of just learning how to program ...

borrow you're buddy's laptop? :laugh:

[borked technique]

i grew up on java - pretty quick.

Went to C, so now I use c# at work at it is like mixing the two.

[gohankid77]

BASIC is pretty easy. FreeBasic is basically a 32-bit enhancement of QBasic (which Microsoft replaced with Visual Basic, at the time VBDOS). It can use 32-bit libraries, create windows, etc. just like any complex language like C++ or .NET programming. If you are really young (maybe 10 years of age), I recommend it. Around 14 or 15 years of age, I recommend something higher like C++ or Java.

[Woody.]

Binary is like the easiest there is :p

Nah, as many others have said Pascal and Opel? I think are both good.

[DaRkYoShI]

Xilo thank you kindly for your input - you have been a great help to me!

[devHead]

  Prince21 said:

What is the easiest programming language to learn?

What is the quickest?

Visual Basic is probably the easiest. You can download for free the Visual Basic 2005 Express product from Microsoft. Or, if you're willing to watch a few short webcasts, you can even get Visual Studio Standard 2005 for free. Go here for the details: http://www.learn2asp.net/campaign.aspx

Enjoy!

Jesse

[titans8904]

"Now I'm writing code for my own start-up business. At the moment I'm using VB .NET the most, though I prefer C# and will be using that extensively in the future. My project has required the use of Jscript, ASP .NET, ADO .NET, and VB .NET."

I am getting pretty good at programming with BASIC, but honestly i dont know what to do with my programs or any new ones to make. What kind of programs are ya'll making and how might you start a business with them? I know I still have a long way to go before i get really good at programming, but just curious as to what things might come of it.

[illicit]

  jma said:

Visual Basic is probably the easiest. You can download for free the Visual Basic 2005 Express product from Microsoft. Or, if you're willing to watch a few short webcasts, you can even get Visual Studio Standard 2005 for free. Go here for the details:

Enjoy!

Jesse

Yeah, that is what I would recommend for a first programming language.

[Mr J Harris]

C++ is really easy to learn.

[jokeripa]

  Mr J Harris said:

C++ is really easy to learn.

:o :| :no: