Programming

[Pawf]

Ok, so I'm looking at learning a new language. Currently I only know HTML, CSS and PHP (not the hardest I know).

I'm wondering what the best to learn is. I'm looking at XCode for Mac OS X and iOS as these are on the devices I use, but I reckon I'll also look into VB for Windows machines. Are there any languages I should research/learn before attempting these, or that would go hand in hand?

Edited by Catz (Forum Super Moderator): Thread moved from ' Technology Discussion ' to here as probably more suitable

[Nemo]

What do you want to do exactly?

[Pawf]

I wanna move onto application development, primarily for Mac OS X and iOS, but also Windows secondarily.

[dbgtz]

I'm thinking java? Or is that what apple blocks? I'm not sure :L

[Pawf]

I have a "Beginning Programming with Java for Dummies" book. Got it for 50p from Oxfam shop years ago. Not read it though, haha. Might give that a go!

[Zak]

Java is a brilliant language to learn.

[Pawf]

Right. I think it's settled then that I'll start with that. Xcode is being a naughty application and taking ages to download (I know it's 4.5GB but it's projected to take like 10 hours! I'll do a bit of bedtime reading tonight haha :P thanks everyone, I'll let you know how I get on ;)

[Agnostic Bear]

Don't ever learn Java ever. Learn C or C++.

[inme]

Learn C or C++.

co-sign. i learnt by just playing around in Visual Basic and Visual Studio.

[Pegle]

Java. It's a really good one.

[Dentafrice]

Javascript. Learn how to use Javascript, it will help you in the long run.

Move from Javascript on to C#. C# will teach you a lot of syntax that will follow into other languages.

Since you already know PHP, C# will be a breeze for you as the syntax is similar.



MessageBox.Show("Hey, this is a message!");


As you can see, the . in that syntax is like -> in PHP..



$MessageBox->Show("Hey, this is a message!");


I recommend C# or Java.

[triston220]

Java is cross-platform compatible so it will run on Windows, Mac and linux.

[Cushioned]

Been said a couple times, C++ or C# are the way to go. Dentafrice made a good point with Javascript--with the little knowledge and messing around in the languages the syntax is incredibly similar.

[Dentafrice]

Once you understand what a syntax actually means, you can learn any language relatively easy. I was extremely proficient in Java after just a few days and a week or two, with no books... nothing like that due to knowing other languages that share the same syntax.

[NFL4LIFE]

JavaScript, or C# then C++. C++ is more object oriented.

[Dentafrice]

It's not more object oriented than Java or even C# in a sense.. I would say they're on about the same level. Which that might get held against me, just my opinion.

[lynx]

What ever you do - Don't learn visual basic for a windows machine. Do a more productive language like java or objective-C. Take that from a programmer that learned visual basic and never used it since learned.