Easiest programming language to learn

maxima2k2

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hello, my major is in the IT field as a microcomputer specialist. A computer programming is needed as one of the many required courses. For a newbie, which is the MOST easiest program to learn. Also, how intelligent or bright do you have to be to learn programming. If a person is stupid or has trouble remembering things, can they still learn a computer language? If I wanted to do some online tutorials, write instructions, execute them into a visual form to see if they were written correctly...what is the program called I need to do this and is there any free ones?
 
You don't have to be overly bright to do programming, what you do need is sound logic, and problem solving skills(most of the time these get better and better the longer you work with code). Being adept at math doesn't hurt either(though i'm not). More than which is the most easy, you'd probably be better off to look at which one is the most sought after by big companies. Just because a language is easy, doesn't mean it's a powerful language. All of the Languages you have listed are pretty powerful(although I don't know if Visual C++ is a language, it's more a development environment). VB.NET is by far the easiest, when it comes to syntax restrictions. If you use Visual Studio, then VB is so easy it's actually kind of like writing a book. It will automatically capitalize characters that should be, and Microsoft's intellisense will show you all of the subroutines, functions, properties, and classes associated with whatever object you are working with once you type a . after the name. I am a fan of java though, it's extremely flexible, great for web, and console applications, it's ability to easily run multi-threaded applications is terrific, and it is one of the best languages for rendering graphics.
 
Even if you are bad at computers Basic web is definatly the easiest to learn.
 
visual basic or C# probably best to start. like Daeva, good problem solving skills are an advantage rather than academic ability
 
My take on things:

C: archaic and clumsy, but still reasonably widely used. Totally different syntax to C++, and you should basically never mix the two together in the same program even though they follow on from one another.

C++: constantly loaded with new features and libraries, but gets frighteningly complicated quite quickly. The ultimate in industry standard languages, though, so it's well worth your while at least trying to learn bits of it. Programming GUI apps can be a total nightmare, especially under Windows.

Java: Not too bad, but slow at runtime and forces you to do things in a way you wouldn't necessarily want to to it. Taught at most British Universities if you do a CompSci degree.

C#/J#: M$ ripoffs of Java, they're so similar that if you're good with one you're pretty much good with all three.

VB2005: totally different to VB.NET and VB6. Still gets the job done and it's not too hard to use, but I honestly think people prefer C# these days.

x86 Assembly: OMFG

By the way, don't worry about being able to remember things: that is only useful for exams. Computer Science professors, as well as professionals working in the IT industry, have their office walls lined with loads and loads of reference books and manuals so you can always look something up.
 
I spent a bit of time trying to learn VB, but this was back in my high school days when I had the aspiration of being a computer games programmer. If you have the time and patience to work through it, then you can create nice little (although basic - no pun intended) applications after just a couple of weeks.

Never had a go at any other language.
 
C: archaic and clumsy, but still reasonably widely used. Totally different syntax to C++, and you should basically never mix the two together in the same program even though they follow on from one another.
Agreed that C is archaic and too clumsy for most purposes nowadays, but often when you're doing very low level stuff it's still your only choice (and that covers most of its uses nowadays.) A lot of applications that need customised low level hardware functionality use C as a base for the low level stuff and then write the rest in an application like C++ or Java - there's nothing wrong with this, it's actually quite a good practice since writing the whole lot in C would be horrible!

C++: constantly loaded with new features and libraries, but gets frighteningly complicated quite quickly. The ultimate in industry standard languages, though, so it's well worth your while at least trying to learn bits of it. Programming GUI apps can be a total nightmare, especially under Windows.
Pretty much agree with all of that. There's not so many new applications being written with it nowadays and it's really not the nicest of languages by today's standards, but if you want to work in programming it's an essential one to learn. (Note that when I say there's not so many new applications being written with it, I'm not saying by any stretch of the imagination that it's obsolete as a lot of people seem to wrongly think!)

Java: Not too bad, but slow at runtime and forces you to do things in a way you wouldn't necessarily want to to it. Taught at most British Universities if you do a CompSci degree.
Right, these two complaints are ones that are heard all the time, and they're mostly myths left over from eons ago. So to address the first one - yes, Java used to be slow. Used to be - ages ago. You're talking when the private protected modifier was still in full force and goto was a reserved word that actually did something (anyone else remember those times?!) They've optimised it a heck of a lot since then, and it's actually now faster than C++ and similar languages in a LOT of applications. Don't believe me? Take a look here - and that's from a fair few years ago, a modern one run more recently (that I can't find quickly) showed far better results for Java. No, it's not going to be as quick as running the same thing in assembler, but for a general purpose language these days it's actually pretty quick - at least a lot quicker than people realise!
The second complaint - that Java forces you to do things differently, is in my mind a good thing. Usually people that complain about this have come from a VB.NET background and have picked up all sorts of bad habits (this is one reason why I don't like VB, it lets you get away with all sorts of things it shouldn't and if you come to program in a more professional language, you'll inevitably moan that it's "harder" and "not like you're used to.") Yes, Java prevents a lot of things that languages like C++ might allow (operator overloading, multiple inheritence, goto, etc.) but in 99% of applications these things are BAD and you shouldn't be using them! Learn how to use Java properly and you suddenly find that far from being bodged and restrictive, it keeps you in check a lot more than other languages do and enforces good programming practices that you'll thank it for later :) The only way Java wouldn't work nicely is if the program you're creating doesn't fit into an object oriented design very nicely, in which case an object oriented language in general is just a poor design choice. But this is far more commonly down to the fact that someone can't work out how to fit a program into an object oriented fashion nicely rather than the program actually CAN'T fit into an OO fashion nicely.

C#/J#: M$ ripoffs of Java, they're so similar that if you're good with one you're pretty much good with all three.
Agreed - though if you know Java it's worth learning C# and doing something in it, something else to put on the CV in terms of experience and it's pretty widely used. Especially if you're doing windows only stuff it can be a good choice, because of it's nature it'll integrate far more nicely with the windows platform than Java will. That said, I usually value Java's cross platform nature rather than C#'s good integration with windows - there's a time and a place for both though.

Don't bother with J#, that was a miserable failure!

In answer to the original poll - VB is probably the easiest up there, but Java is probably the best to learn first because unless you're being taught it really badly it gets you into good habits rather than bad!
 
i would say that Visual Basic is easier, that was like the first programming language i learnt. It gives you the foundations for higher level langs like Java or C++.
 
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