I am going to be signing up for classes on the first. Which should I sign up for a class for Visual Basic, or C++? I have a small understanding of VB, but nothing for C++. Any thoughts?
C++ VB is a beginners language. not to mention if your looking for a career as a programmer you need C++, VB isn't used in professional programming (it used to be in some apps, but no one really uses it now)
Ok then. I'll look into a C++ class then. Although when I looked last it was C++ for bussiness coarse.
Meh, I'd go for C++. Although if you are only interested in just making small applications for recreational use then go with VB, b ut in the long run, it has to be C++.
Ok, I have another question. What about C#? I have to take a beginners C++ class before I could take that, but would it be better to stick with C++ or go into C#?
C++ . C# basically ties you to Microsoft solutions with all the accompanying problems (shut up before you mention Mono, guys - it's always a step behind the Windows releases by the Mono dev's own admissions), whereas 99.9% of cross platform applications are written in C++ , as it's available everywhere. Stick to C++ and avoid C#.
You also forgotten to shut up those that will claim that C# is defined by an ISO standard and not by Microsoft (despite it's obviously very Microsoft-driven, and the .NET framework indeed is Microsoft-only).
It'd be worth pursuing C# if you want to move into web development. I think C#+ASP.NET is becoming quite popular. If that doesn't interest you at this time, stick with C++.
Gee, I didn't see the anti against Microsoft's C# language coming! </sarcasm> Truthfully I can't comment on C# as I know nothing about it. It is becoming a bigger player in the name of web programming though. I don't know -- I'd recommend asking people who use it regularly what they think of it. I can definitely comment on C, C++, and Visual Basic. My opinion isn't a popular one, but if you're pretty new to the whole concept of programming, go with Visual Basic. However, if you understand the basics of programming and want something more advanced, then C or C++ is the way to go. Now some will go as far as to suggest Java, but I personally hated Java, so my opinion will be biased on that and thus, I won't recommend you take it or not take it.
If this was GameDev.net, you'd already have an at least 5 page topic which is a religious war between C# and C++, with the occassional mention to Phyton. As far as I know it's also being used to make new tools. But it isn't gaining much terrain in the game development area outside XNA, and XNA isn't exactly something you'd make your AAA title in, so... (and this is mainly because not even C++ is properly fully implemented in consoles, due to memory management). =S Suggesting Java is like suggesting C++ to somebody that knows nothing about how computers work internally...
Someone said the J-word.... >_> I hated Java at university. Python is now taught in it's place on the course I was on, and I wish it had been at the time. =P
C# isn't so bad. Syntactically it's very similar to other C languages - the big problem is that if you learn C# first you're likely to get into bad memory management habits, even though you might have an easier time. Stick with C++ is my recommendation :P
From what I can tell, most of the C# hate around here stems from two things: it's not native code, and it came from Microsoft. As a language, I actually like C# for the most part. My main complaints are more because of everything surrounding it: Since it's not native code, you have to hope that bindings are available for all the C/C++ libraries out there. These days you'll most likely find such bindings for the most popular libraries, but if one isn't available you either have to wait or make it yourself. And even then, there's the associated overhead with going through .NET/Mono's interop layer, etc. Cross-platform/Mono support is always lagging behind; .NET's standard library is huge, and the Mono project is always at least one step behind Microsoft in this regard. That said, they're always making steady progress. And there's the whole thing with having a relatively large runtime dependency. It's not a huge deal, but it's still a problem. For performance, while C# code is objectively performs worse than C or C++, the difference is greatly exaggerated at times. For most tasks, you'll likely not notice a difference between the two; it's only if you're trying to squeeze every last CPU cycle out of a complex algorithm or something similar. Often times high CPU/memory usage in a .NET app is blamed on the fact that it uses .NET; in many cases it's true, but in other cases it's also because of poorly written code, which will produce lousy results in any language or runtime. Lastly, it seems odd to me that people criticize performance in .NET and in the same breath praise languages like Python/Lua/PHP/insert-interpreted-dynamic-language-here. Don't get me wrong, I actually love some of these languages (especially Lua), but their computational performance without a JIT is several times slower than anything you'll find in .NET or perhaps even Java. (whew. didn't intend to write a wall of text here. oh well)
Fanboys too. I've seen people claiming that C# is superior because according to them you don't have to compile. Yes - they want C# because they don't like compiling their code! Ugh >_> Also I've seen some stupids claiming that by using C# you don't use pointers anymore - which is blatantly false =|
I know some C#, it isn't that bad per se, but its lack of optimisation just isn't for me. I don't know why they keep on coming up with new languages when the old ones were just as good. Oh yes and Java sucks, that's something we all can agree on.
