Whats your expirence with a programming language and why?

[benrob0329]

EDIT: I know realize that I forgot to change the name after the "and" to something that makes sense when I first posted. :oops:



Ok, so here's what I'm thinking:

This isn't a Café Game, it's a discussion.

I'm hoping for this to help both new programmers and ones who are looking to expand their knowledge.

This also is NOT a "Language 1 vs. Language 2" discussion, it is for the reader to decide which he/she likes best.



My Experience so far with Object/Free Pascal:

Pros:


It's consistent, it isn't all "Lets do this this way, and that that way...
It runs on like, EVERY platform
Code compiles/links very fast


Cons:


Gui/Extra Libraries seem to be based around the Lazarus IDE

[jamesdesbyrne]

Working my way through a computer science course at the moment so I have used a heap of languages over the last few years.

That said I'm most familiar with :

Java from android programming
HTML/CSS/PHP from building simple websites

At the moment I am learning QML and C++ to try and build a cross platform mobile/desktop application to run on android and ubuntu. Looking forward to it, though it make take awhile. Damn exams!!

[portalhavoc]

The only programming language that I'm familiar with is HTML.

(I learned it from a forum I used to visit back in 2009.)

<font face="Ubuntu"> <font color="Orange"> <font size="8"> HTML rocks! :D </font>

[WinEunuchs2Unix]

Unlike the secret moderator I've never used Pascal however in technical school we had an advanced class where we used ASSEMBLER to build a psuedo-pascal compiler.

Although it is not efficient from a "human" point of view I would say ASSEMBLER is my favourite language of the heart.

For business programming of "for others to use" I would say COBOL is my favourite language or at least it was.

For programming of the head I would say C is my favourite language although looking at the new C# or C++ or whatever you call it language used within EnhanceIO and other Linux "freebie" / GNU software I see I'm woefully out-of-date in the data structures and other "things".

Most "programming" these days is with bash or DOS commands as "REAL programming" got wiped out (for me) with Y2K where it took 1.5 hours of coding to update the subroutines / libraries and then a day of recompiling and setting up new install disks. Charging appropriately means a few thousand dollars instead of a few million based on hype was made which left one without a safety net for the business community blow back that lasted a few years. There were other mitigating factors such as transition period to Windows which left DOS programmers dead in the water. And... a few "complicated" legal issues... OK lots of them.

There used to be languages like dBase III and other fourth generation languages which were hyped to be the next best thing sinced "sliced bread". I dipped into some of these fourth generation languages but nothing has come along to replace "C" as the mainstream "bread & butter" of the industry IMHO. I've looked at Perl and Python (superficially) over the last 12 months but I'm not terribly keen on what I've seen so far.

I've always believed with a few hundred million dollars and a few hundred programmers one could develop a "super compiler" that could generate machine code for multiple hardware platforms and operating systems / GUI apps. Such a language would generate machine code just as fast as you could dream it without the burden of writing monotonous code. Kind of like those cars and trucks that drive themselves it would essentially be a computer that programmed itself.

Perhaps Richard Stallman or Tim Cook are better people to ask. There should be a few people at IBM and Microsoft better suited to answer the question but none of the CEO's or Chairmans I presume.

No matter what the programming language people still have problems doing the business analysis properly to create the databases and the general design, detailed design and programming specs. The analysts not doing their homework properly create a spec to put a square peg into a round hole and that is what the programmers (only a couple years out of school with no real business knowledge) create.

But inefficiency and waste creates more jobs and consumes more FIAT currency which is challenging to spend with the overwhelming volume of the trillions upon trillions.

To make a long story short I think ``C`` is a good balance between ASSEMBLER on one hand and BASIC or COBOL on the other hand.

BASIC = Beginners All Purpose Symbolic Instruction Code
COBOL = Common Business Orientated Language.
C = The language that followed ``A`` and then ``B``.

[benrob0329]

My Personal favorite is Haskell, which I am very new at. I would not recommend Pascal for anyone NOT looking to use The Lazarus IDE for everything. That's why I switched.

It's difficult to turn this into a list of pros and cons, so I'll explain a little of the language.



There isn't an "Official" Haskell compiler, but GHC looks like the most commonly used.
Haskell can be either compiled or interpreted.
It's a "Lazy" language, things aren't done until there needed.
Parenthesis don't have to be used like in other compiled languages, EG:


2/5*2

Would be properly written:

2/ (5*2)
In other words, it's 2 divided by (5 times 2)

[Gustaf_Alhll]

C++ is the one I've stuck to for a while now, and probably will stick to for a long while.
From my personal experience, C++ is not a starter language. It's for people that want to continue by learning a new programming language. Although, I do think once you got the hang of C++, it's your final pit stop (That probably sounded wrong).

Pros:

Organized (Create functions in classes and assign in headers, different access methods for different types, etc)
Flexible
A lot of control


Cons:

Lacks Garbage Collection
Sometimes, a bit too much to keep in mind simultanioulsy (The reason why you shouldn't start with C++, there's a lot to take in)
Compiler/Linker could sometimes be obnoctious

[benrob0329]

I've tried several languages...

BASIC derivatives:

Pros


Good place to learn the basic (no pun intended) concepts of programming
Easy to learn and use


Cons

Limited on what you can do, as far as I know, depends on what version you use
Slow (compared to compiled languages)



Python

Pros

Easy to use and learn
Again, a good place to start
can do A LOT


Cons

I could never quite get external libraries to work right
again, slow (compared to compiled languages)


C

Pros

Used everywhere (almost)
Fast
Easier than C++
Lots of external Libraries


Cons

Harder than say, Python, BASIC, and others
I've heard Strings can be a pain...


Lua


Pros

Very Easy to learn
Very Portable


Cons

Slow (compared to compiled Languages)
Lacks Unicode (UTF-8) support



I don't have much expirience in any of these languages, I swiched because of several reasons to Haskell.

[Francesco_Verlato]

Hi,
I'm trying to learn to program in C ++ & java, I studied html and php when i was at school but would like to expand my knowledge.