Which programming language

[magpie03]

Hello everyone.
I'm looking at getting back into programing so I would like options on which language would be a good starting point. I have experience in machine language, assembly, FORTRAN, COBOL, and basic. Please see the attached pic, as that will be my first project. That program is a Windows EXE written in Java I believe. I would like to write it for Linux and then port it to my android phone. I am running Ubuntu 10.10. I just want the basic clock for now, don't need all buttons along the top yet. That can be done later.

Many thanks all.....
magpie

*NOTE* I've just looked over previous post and seem some good answers, but as I have a specific project in mind maybe someone could narrow it down.

Many thanks again all...........

[scwizard]

C for programs that need to be fast.
Java for complicated programs.
Python for non trivial scripts.

[forrestcupp]

If your goal is to have it on the Android phone, you'll need to end up using Java and the Android Development Kit (ADK). Just because Android uses the Linux kernel doesn't mean that apps are easily portable from Linux. If you don't really need it for Linux, then you'd be better off working directly on Android because developing for Android is unique.

[djconnel]

I'm really liking Ruby right now: it handles a lot automatically that Java requires the coder to manage. But for Android apps, Java is the standard (Objective C for iPhone). I recently read Android Apps for Dummies which is really good if a bit sloppy.

[imachavel]

Hello everyone.
I'm looking at getting back into programing so I would like options on which language would be a good starting point. I have experience in machine language, assembly, FORTRAN, COBOL, and basic. Please see the attached pic, as that will be my first project. That program is a Windows EXE written in Java I believe. I would like to write it for Linux and then port it to my android phone. I am running Ubuntu 10.10. I just want the basic clock for now, don't need all buttons along the top yet. That can be done later.

Many thanks all.....
magpie

*NOTE* I've just looked over previous post and seem some good answers, but as I have a specific project in mind maybe someone could narrow it down.

Many thanks again all...........

FORTRAN COBAL?? LOL did you program on dos?

try c for back end basic file system. there is obviously apache to get local host running for .net framework. html which uses tags. umm, I think C now uses classes so it's c++. I'm not a great programmer myself but remember c code is compiled to read the binary, so upper c I think addresses binary. There is python don't know much about it but man is it simple.

so you are aware of defined arguments? This is about as far as I've gotten, had some hello world files written and a few compiled in about every programming language including python. Nothing too intense, I would have uploaded them but deleted them. Man is ubuntu the right OS to use for you if you are interested in programming

[linoseros]

Python if you need to learn a new programming language very fast. But if you need to port your application to Android so use Java.

[djconnel]

Errr... why would Ubuntu be bad for programming?

[imachavel]

bad? who said bad? the binary is open source

[lisati]

Thread moved to Programming Talk (http://ubuntuforums.org/forumdisplay.php?f=39).

[djconnel]

bad? who said bad? the binary is open source

Ah -- I misinterpreted you comment (which was generally lacking in punctuation). I see what you meant now.

[lisati]

Ah -- I misinterpreted you comment (which was generally lacking in punctuation). I see what you meant now.

I think I see what is meant too: confusion can creep in because a "binary" isn't necessarily the same as "source"

[magpie03]

Many thanks all. Thanks for moving my post. So sorry to post in the wrong area, but I'll learn. And yes imachavel, I have programmed in DOS. Didn't really want to show my age. LOL I still think I have my old 8080 instruction sheet somewhere. Since I have Python installed, I'll start with that to get back in the groove. Back in the groove, showing my age again. :) My only concern is that time is the hardest thing for a computer to compute. Long as Python can handle the math I'll try it. After Python, I'll go to Java then look into Ruby.

(Want to really know how old I am? I ran a BBS with a modem on a Fountain Turbo XT with the 8080!)
Thanks again all.......
magpie

[escentrix]

Php works wonders for web apps, easily interfaced with C backend scripts also. Great support and documentation for it makes learning it very easy. You'll have to know a bit of HTML to make everything look pretty. Really, though, it depends on what your environment, goal and userbase is.

[alegomaster]

I know to develop for android you need to use java, unless there is some sort of emulation or such for any other high level language, but I am sure there is not. So that will force you to use java.