Re: Newbie with lots of time on hands!

"Im Going Mad" <imgoingmad@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:05DF8C6B-A6BA-4421-8050-3CFD78FBE70E@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Hi All,

Hope everyone is well? Hope you all don`t mind me asking for a bit of advice and a few recommendations off you? I've recently changed job and now working away from home Monday - Friday. Staying in Hotels etc, etc this has now given me about 10 - 20 per week to spend some serious time learning a programming language, without the missus nattering in my ear.

Just wondering what you all suggest? I`ve done a fair bit of work with VB but im no where near perfect on it though.

Just wondering should I go for:

Visual C++
C++
C Sharp
J++
Visual Basic

I was thinking C++ but anybody got any Suggestions/Comments/Dont even Go there`s, would be much appriciated.

Cheers
IGMad ........

First, you should ask yourself what you hope to do with a programming language once you've learned it. Do you have any specific applications that you want to develop? As you have some experience with VB (.NET or pre-.NET?), the natural choice would be Visual Basic .NET. If you want something different, something in the C family makes sense, but not J#, as it's being discontinued (not in VS 2008).
Again, it's a matter of how much learning you want to do...
C# (C Sharp) uses the same .NET Framework as VB .NET, so there will be a comfort level with many of the classes. C++, on the other hand, allows you to use the .NET framework (C++ CLI), but also allows you to develop applications that are independent of .NET.
If you make the effort to learn C++, you're learning the language used in most modern OS (Windows, Unix, Linux, etc.) and in the most popular productivity applications (like MS Office).
Personally, I'd go with C++ and here's a book the will work well to get you going and expose you to several types of C++ applications:

http://www.wrox.com/WileyCDA/WroxTitle/productCd-0764571974.html

Remember, this is my opinion only!


--
Peter van der Goes, Professor CIT
(Discipline Chair)
Rose State College

.

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