Slimy Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 i know u guys are geniuses here :rofl: so can some1 tell me whether i should start with BASIC or just skip to visual basic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 tiagosilva29 Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 I teached some BASIC to my 4 y.o. goddaughter... I think that you shouldn't start with BASIC... :unsure: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 caustiK Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 i dunno, i started with BASIC, but that was in the 4th grade. i did a lot of it for my TI calc in high school, which was fairly useful. for any kind of real windows app though, i'd guess go with VB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Sn1p3t Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 Most of today's programming languages belong to the C language and it's synatx. C, C++, Java, C#... VB.net is arguably easier, but I find it hard to read. The C synax is so much nicer. You can always read some tutorials on VB or VB.net, and then later move on to a C language once you have the grasp of programming. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Lanky Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 I say start on VB but Im not as experienced as many others on these boards so I may be wrong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 Winston Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 VB.net is arguably easier, but I find it hard to read. The C synax is so much nicer. I wouldn't say it's hard to read, it's more clean compared to some other languages, i get confused with the braces matching up at times... however the thing with VB is, it has so many things in it, and i get confused with it when u compare it to java and C#, like in VB you got Sub Routines and Functions (for returning data), but in java and C#, it's clean cut in respect that, a void would make the method a Sub Routine and specifying a return type would make it a Function. Anyways back on topic, i didn't start with BASIC myself, i've seen it lol... it's blue haha, but i think BASIC would teach you the general control structures, like IF THEN decision statements, etc, and giving you a simple taste of what programming is about. So it's really up to you. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
0 wyoung76 Posted October 10, 2004 Share Posted October 10, 2004 I'll say from the outset that I'm biased towards VB.NET, but I'll try to be as balanced as possible. BASIC is definitely quite an easy programming language to pick up, and as has already been mentioned, it'll teach you control structures, and other useful things like that. With a more modern very of BASIC, like VB.NET, you can also learn proper (or more proper for those that like to be picky) OO programming. However, it isn't very cross platform, so if you're interested in doing any development work in the future on *nix or non-Windows platforms, then it isn't really all too useful as an absolute choice. VB.NET should satisfy the vast majority of casual programmers who won't be making huge multi-site, million line codebases, or who demand full control over where every single CPU opcode goes. Furthermore, any packaged Assembly "designed" for C# will work just as well in VB.NET, you'll just need to get used to changing a few words to support it. I've done it plenty of times, and it's not hard. VB.NET is also a bit more verbose when it comes to things like declaring classes (abstract or not) and interfaces, and what you can do with them. For some people that's too much hand holding, for others it helps to clear things up and make it immediately obvious what's happening. On learning something non-BASIC, there's C#, Java, C++ or C. They all have a fairly similar syntax. It shouldn't take too much for a person fluent in one to pick up or read any of the others. Java is fairly cross platform friendly, and similarly with C++ and C (IF you stick to using cross platform libraries and don't use many platform specific features). C# is semi-cross platform (as is VB.NET) by virtue of the Mono project. But I honestly wouldn't hold my breath on that. If you really want to be a well-rounded programmer, with an appreciation of all the different types of features that each language can offer, then learn BASIC first, then learn C# or C++ or Java. And no matter what language you end up learning, learn to be consistent in the way you format all your code, name your variables and classes and functions clearly, use classes wisely and interfaces (or headers or whatever the language calls it), and break up huge long chunks of code into smaller uniquely functional groups. All of this will ensure that your code is easy to read, even if you've left it for a long time, allow others to read it easily, and also make it easier for you to convert your code to a different language should that happen in the future. Hope that helps you and anyone else trying to decide. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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Slimy
i know u guys are geniuses here :rofl: so can some1 tell me whether i should start with BASIC or just skip to visual basic
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