Because I couldn't resist a good flame war - the programming language debate

[drothgery]

Given the social/economic trend towards globalization, I think the future of computing will really be focused on more cross-platform applications, networking, system integration, and remote access.

Cross-platform is of extremely limited value, IMO.

On the desktop, one platform (Windows) has 90% market share. One other platform (the Mac) has 90% of the remaining people willing to pay for desktop software. When covering two platforms gets you to almost anyone, why bother going farther?

On the server, the software typically costs far more than the hardware; you pick the software, then choose the platform to run it on, rather than the other way around.

Oh, my rundown...

Started with interpreted BASICs
Learned C in college (also did some work in C++, Scheme, VB, and Perl; and a few weeks of Prolog and Java)
Used VB and ASP in my first few jobs
Transitioned to VB.NET/ASP.NET at my current job, as MS finally gave VB the nifty fun OOP features I was missing, but kept everything I liked about VB.

 

[Mercule]

Finally, I find it easiest to learn languages by using them. If I have a project or task set before me, I can easily learn the code necessary to make it work. But I have a hard time learning a language just by reading a book.

I absolutely agree. You can't just read a book and say, "Okay, I know ASP.NET." A book can be an excellent way to answer the questions you have as you're getting your hands dirty, though. That's really all I was saying.

 

[Rackhir]

We do a lot of data processing. I would put in another vote for SQL no matter what platform you are on or what database software you use, eventually you seem to bump into SQL. Everything seems to at least talk to it, if not be able draw on its syntax and commands.

RE: College - IMHO and experience it's a pedigree. It doesn't mean that a person is a better programer or whatever, but it is the difference between a mutt that's free from the ASPCA and a $500 purebred dog.

 

[Psionicist]

Read the question again.

Steven is my nephew. He's a junior in high school. He's been taking a vo-tech class that covers repairing computers and whatnot. He put together his own computer, buying the parts here and yonder to get what he wanted. So, I guess he's yearning to learn more, and so his mom (my sister) asked me for advice.

Of all the super cool things you can do with a computer you recommend him to learn SQL? Wow, how exciting!

SQL is really good to know, agree, but it isn't _fun_ to hack around with SQL-queries at home when you dont have a really large database with information you want to retrieve. Learn it when you need it, not because you might need it someday. Its the same thing with regular expressions.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

Learn C. If taught by a good instructor, it will teach you the essential concepts and more importantly good techniques and habits. I'm firmly convinced the majority of computer problems today are caused by people that learned programming on Visual Basic.

Of course, like my old instructor said, you only need two languages. If you want it quick, write it in Basic. If you want it right, write it in assembler.

 

[Rodrigo Istalindir]

What double-post?

 

[mojo1701]

Holy double-post, Batman!

 

[der_kluge]

I'm firmly convinced the majority of computer problems today are caused by people that learned programming on Visual Basic.

Nonsense. I think bad code comes from poorly managed projects, and programmers who like to cut corners. Good program design is language independent. I've seen horrible C code, and I've seen beautiful, efficient, solid VB code.

 

[Mercule]

RE: College - IMHO and experience it's a pedigree. It doesn't mean that a person is a better programer or whatever, but it is the difference between a mutt that's free from the ASPCA and a $500 purebred dog.

Agree and disagree. My degree is in Political Science, but I'm at least as competent as 80%+ of the programmers I've worked with and better than a large portion (don't take that as a big head, I'm usually the one asked to make sure something is done right). In this regard, you're right and it's just a pedigree.

On the other hand, college adds some breadth of knowledge. If I haven't used it, I haven't studied it. And there are some huge holes in my knowledge that I periodically have to scramble to patch. Plus, some companies only hire pedigreed programmers. That, and I spent several years getting paid what an intern would get paid, just so I could fulfill the "or equivalent experience" part of other company's hiring requirements.

 

[Welverin]

Anyone else have any thoughts on what he should try to learn?

Well as long as there are computers in this country there will be a need for people who can work on the hardware since that’s something that simply can not be done in another country the way programming could. Since he’s already shown an interest in that it may be the way to go, especially with programming being something entirely different. Wouldn’t hurt to get him some experience with it so he can see what he prefers of course.