Software Engineering - Which Language to Use

Author

Which Language to Use

WStoreyII

2004-12-27, 8:56 pm

I have got my introduction to the programming world with Visual basic,
Visual basic for applications and Vb.net as well as html and Vbscript.

my question is that i do not like the idea of only being able to
program for the windows environment only.

I was wondering if there is a programming language that can be used on
any system.

it seems to me from my limited understanding that this would be C,
it seems that most programs and program languages were written in c.

i know that there will always be needs for other langauges, like
javascript (for html) and other scripting type languages. Like in
windows i would need javascript again for the wsh.

so i know that i will never really be able to only deal with one
programming language

but i would like to hear your opinions on which language would give me
the most control and abillity to work with all platforms and
enviornments.

also how does java stack up to c? because with java i oculd make
applets.

Thanks for you time and help

WStoreyII

Steve Jorgensen

2004-12-27, 8:56 pm

Since there are plenty of languages that work on multiple platforms, you
should consider a lot more factors than the fact that you want to support
non-Windows. In fact, although you can write portable C code, it's a
discipline that takes a long time to master, especially if you're not already
good with C.

The fact that you come from VB and VB.NET leads me to suggest you consider
Python, Ruby, or Java. All are popular and cross-platform.

On 27 Dec 2004 11:41:48 -0800, "WStoreyII" <papastoreyii@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

>I have got my introduction to the programming world with Visual basic,
>Visual basic for applications and Vb.net as well as html and Vbscript.
>
>my question is that i do not like the idea of only being able to
>program for the windows environment only.
>
>I was wondering if there is a programming language that can be used on
>any system.
>
>it seems to me from my limited understanding that this would be C,
>it seems that most programs and program languages were written in c.
>
>i know that there will always be needs for other langauges, like
>javascript (for html) and other scripting type languages. Like in
>windows i would need javascript again for the wsh.
>
>so i know that i will never really be able to only deal with one
>programming language
>
>but i would like to hear your opinions on which language would give me
>the most control and abillity to work with all platforms and
>enviornments.
>
>also how does java stack up to c? because with java i oculd make
>applets.
>
>Thanks for you time and help
>
>WStoreyII

Pierre Asselin

2004-12-28, 3:56 am

WStoreyII <papastoreyii@sbcglobal.net> wrote:

> I was wondering if there is a programming language that can be used on
> any system.

Many. You can get Windows ports of perl, python and Tcl with zero
effort from http://www.activestate.com . These languages are quite
common on other platforms.

I know two of the three. The third, python, has a reputation of
being easy to learn.

It would help if you had a few non-Windows boxes with one of these
languages. You would be able to verify that your programs work on
all of them, so you wouldn't inadvertently make Windows-specific
assumptions.

--
pa at panix dot com

Robert Klemme

2004-12-28, 3:59 pm

"Steve Jorgensen" <nospam@nospam.nospam> schrieb im Newsbeitrag
news:qdr0t09n8k69rfade8s44mggp32ug8hf36@
4ax.com...
> Since there are plenty of languages that work on multiple platforms, you
> should consider a lot more factors than the fact that you want to
support
> non-Windows. In fact, although you can write portable C code, it's a
> discipline that takes a long time to master, especially if you're not
already
> good with C.
>
> The fact that you come from VB and VB.NET leads me to suggest you
consider
> Python, Ruby, or Java. All are popular and cross-platform.

+1 (I was going to suggest Java and Ruby, since I don't know Python - but
it may well be a good choice, too)

robert

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