From QBASIC to Contemporary Programming Languages.

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Hi there peeps...

I began to delve into computer programming when I was 8yrs old, working on a Commodore C64. I was hooked when I made my first program which used the "goto" command to flood a screen. So, back to the now...

I am looking for someone to advise me on which language I should choose as a beginners language, so that I can begin working on my programming skills. I do have very minimal experience with the following languages:

^o C++ & C#
^o HTML

So, can somebody please advise me on which language would be the best learn as a beginner programmer?
I have been told that VB or F# could be a good idea, but I would rather turn to you guys, and know that I can trust your answers...

Thanks a whole lot guys, and I hope to hear from you soon...

Posted 19-Oct-11 7:55am

Binarius

Updated 19-Oct-11 8:12am

fjdiewornncalwe

v3

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3 solutions

Solution 1

I would definitely throw a vote at C#!

Posted 19-Oct-11 7:58am

Tim Groven

Solution 3

Hi Friend,
Nice to know that your first programming language is Basic. i fill very glad bcz i also learns Basic during primary education and now it is very helpful for me. as per your question there are so many languages so it is very difficult to advice a particular language. according to me i advice you C,C++ and Asp.Net.

Thanks

Vivek Singh

Posted 19-Oct-11 8:40am

vivek511

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Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov · Accepted Answer · 2011-10-19T08:14:00

Solution 2

There are so many languages which are worth learning so giving advices is difficult. You know what? You need to learn one or two to get good experience and learn something new time to time, not doing too serious development, just for general culture and getting a change to switch to something better.

First of all, here is the most important problem: unlearn Basic. Seriously, this is the most difficult part.

I would highly support the idea of learning C#. F# would be very useful, as a door to functional languages. Python is very good to know. Many things depend on your interest to Web development; you may or may not need it. Most likely, you will need JavaScript/ECMAScript, just because this is the only thing on client side of the Web (VB script is not compatible with all platforms, don't get sunk into it.)

Now, how about VB.NET? It is a fully-functional languages, has most of the C# features (but not all of them). Here is the thing. Look at ECMA standards: http://www.ecma-international.org/publications/standards/Stnindex.htm[^]. C++/CLI, CLI itself, C# and Eiffel (also very useful to know). C# is also standardized with ISO. VB.NET will never be there. Also, there is a big social factor: if you need .NET help, you will find the most in C#, much less in VB.NET. Honestly, many developers won't just take VB.NET developers seriously. Just a fact of life. VB.NET developers feel offended and some might down-vote this post :-).

Good luck,

—SA

Posted 19-Oct-11 8:14am

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov

Comments

fjdiewornncalwe 19-Oct-11 14:17pm

+5. Well said. I was about to post a simple C# is a good place to start, C++ a good place to really learn once you get your feet wet, but I this is far more complete.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 19-Oct-11 14:20pm

Thank you, Marcus.
--SA

Sander Rossel 19-Oct-11 14:53pm

My vote of 5 despite your VB remarks... As a VB programmer I can well appreciate certain aspects of the language. It can do everything C# can also do (except micro framework I believe). It just has some pre-VB4 backwards compatibility issues that should really be avoided at any costs. I like the IntelliSense in Visual Studio a lot better for VB than for C#. I like the way VB takes up less vertical space than C# (at least with my formatting). And though many people call the language verbose I just call it readable.
I really dislike automatic Namespacing in C# (but this might just be a VS setting...). Of course C# also has its charms, but I just can't get completely used to it yet :)

Unfortunately what you say is also true. If you look for information on the internet it is almost always in C#. Also, C# looks syntactically like more other languages than VB.
For that reason I would also say that learning C# is probably a better choice. Knowing both languages (and it's really just a slight syntactic difference, since the libraries are the same!) could quite possibly give you an edge though :)

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 19-Oct-11 15:09pm

Thank you.
--SA

Macro Man 20-Oct-11 5:04am

+5
I agree with SA as well. It is best to learn a couple, not just one. I started with BASIC too! I found it so horrible to use, my programming journey ended almost before it began. I played with Visual Basic when it had matured a little bit, and found that much nicer. But it was still messy for me. Then when Microsoft brought .NET to the world I chose (inevitably) VB .NET because it was familiar. At one point I had a requirement (closing network ports) that managed code simply couldn't provide for. I needed to write kernel-mode - so I started learning C. I found it too difficult at the time so I dropped it and continued learning .NET.

But I had found C's terse syntax and compact style so nice to use I took up C# and now program primarily in this language. In my opinion it is the best modern programming language in existence, but at certain points you will need others. I am now studying C and machine languages and am finding it much easier than last time.

To sum up, because they use the same Framework I found the trasition from VB .NET to C# extremely easy. And C and all its relatives (including C# and Java) are the way to go. I believe Python is useful as well, although I have never used it myself.

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 20-Oct-11 11:57am

Thank you, Macro Man.
The description of your experience is interesting and indicative.
--SA

Munir Sule 3-Nov-14 19:21pm

How
Do
I
Develop
A
Driver software for hardware?

Sergey Alexandrovich Kryukov 3-Nov-14 22:16pm

By using Windows Driver Kit.
You can do it with any native compiler with WDK binding for it. Most usually, people use C++.
You also need to learn some part of Windows architecture and basic understanding of CPU architecture, as you are going to work in the kernel mode.
—SA