Should I Learn Java Or Visual Basic

[TheColourAwesome]

So I have been playing around with VB for a while (mainly just if statements and such) and I want to learn more. But after learning a bit about Java I'm considering ditching VB and learning Java instead.

Since you guys have a lot of experience with programing could you tell me what language you enjoy working with the most and why I would too.

P.S I don't really mind that VB programs are executable though Windows.

[Blackhole12]

Learn anything other than Visual Basic. If you like Java, learn that. If you like C#, learn that. Pretty much any modern programming language is less terrible than Visual Basic. Here's a bunch of languages for you to look into:

Java
C#
D
Python
LUA
Haskell
Lisp
Perl
C/C++
Javascript (web)
PHP (web)
Ruby (web)

The ones up top are easier to learn, so I suggest looking at those. But seriously just learn anything other than visual basic.

[TheColourAwesome]

Learn anything other than Visual Basic. Pretty much any modern programming language is less terrible than Visual Basic.
But seriously just learn anything other than visual basic.

Will do. But what makes (you think) Visual is such a terrible language?

[deckheadtottie]

I'm currently programming in VB.NET and it can do everything any other language can do. I'm surprised at how powerful it is, actually. The most important thing to note is that logic and structure always (for the most part) remains the same in any programming language.

Yes, I probably will have to switch to C# or Java at some stage purely because there's not as much market for a VB.NET developer but having a knowledge of a language makes the transition much simpler. Especially to C# as it's part of the .NET framework.

The important thing is to understand HOW something works. If you're on control statements and loops, there's no reason why you shouldn't learn it VB if it makes you feel more comfortable. As I said, the logic is still the same.

[sharpnova]

Visual Basic might be a good starting point. My first language was QBasic which is pretty similar.

But I made the transition from QBasic to C pretty young. I'd be a little nervous about someone getting too used to Visual Basic before using a more... "computer sciencey" language.

If you have to pick between VB and Java.. please pick Java. (Or C# which is really similar and has awesome support)

[gumOnShoe]

My suggestion is Java or Scheme.

Java is a great beginner language. Scheme is entirely simplistic and straight forward, but far more powerful.

The choice is this:

1) Java is a programming language where each line of the program follows another line.

2) Scheme is a language where each unit of the code should be functional (although you can do OO and sequential programming). So everything you do is passing an argument to a function, which is really all you need for most simple tasks.

Java is great for understanding basics.

Scheme is great for understanding programming. It really changes the way you look at code, and in a good way.

[TheColourAwesome]

Java it is.

[deckheadtottie]

At 10/26/11 09:07 AM, TheColourAwsome wrote: Java it is.

Good choice :)

[Wolfos]

Because BASIC based languages have weird syntax.

[TeslaShockwave]

At 10/26/11 04:03 PM, Wolfos wrote: Because BASIC based languages have weird syntax.

Yeah... code gets looking pretty ugly in BASIC after a bit. I like languages with syntax similar to C/C++ personally.

[sharpnova]

At 10/26/11 09:07 AM, TheColourAwsome wrote: Java it is.

It's rare when a question of preference in the world of programming has a right or wrong answer.. but in this case I think this is the right one :p

[Wolfos]

At 10/30/11 02:05 PM, TeslaShockwave wrote:

At 10/26/11 04:03 PM, Wolfos wrote: Because BASIC based languages have weird syntax.

Yeah... code gets looking pretty ugly in BASIC after a bit. I like languages with syntax similar to C/C++ personally.

Same, Java does. It's the better choice of the two.