Newbie with lots of time on hands!   

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 ........

date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 10:05:09 +0100   author:   Im Going Mad

Re: Newbie with lots of time on hands!   

"Im Going Mad"  wrote in message 
news:05DF8C6B-A6BA-4421-8050-3CFD78FBE70E@microsoft.com...
> 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

date: Wed, 5 Sep 2007 06:50:35 -0500   author:   PvdG42