Replying to Languages Worth Learning

I think most of what was important was covered already. However, I will add one more thing. Don't consider what is in demand now, or look and average job salaries or money reports. What is your most important consideration is where each technology is going. While it might look good on paper for someone to know COBOL, C#, C or 20 different assembly language, technology evolves very rapidly and the languages you are learning about now can very well be outdated before your career is over.Take in consideration that which is growing, not simply what is around.

 Java and C++ is a great start, as they are not going away any time soon.

-reply by Waffle

C/C++
Perl
Assembler (very good for building viruses)

According to Slashdot news:

"CNN Money is reporting that .Net programmers are one
of the top 5 most in-demand jobs. Of the positions where recent surveys
have indicated a labor shortage, .Net developers and QA analysts are the
two that fell under the 'technology' category. According to CNN Money,
.Net developers can make between $75-85K starting out in major cities,
with the potential to make 15% more if they have a particular
proficiency. Additionally, QA workers can make $65-75K a year with the
ability to negotiate a 10-15% pay jump if they switch jobs."

-----When quoting, please use the quote tags and include a link to the source. Also, this topic is over 4 months old. It'd be useless to reply to it since nobody will still be interested in it.-----szupie

One thing to add: don't skimp on design classes.

And I don't mean computer design. I mean graphic design and interface design. These skills will give you a VERY marketable polish, and will open doors to more industries. Another good skillset is web programming/web design. People still hire, and pay, good web designers.

Out of college, you want as many good job abilities as possible. Right now CS has hiring issues, so, this is the best way to counter that.

Reguarding your need to experiment with SQL I would suggest that you start with some PHP/MySql. I think that designing websites is something that is fun and interesting, while at the same time can enhance your programming skills. I'm personally not that great of a programmer, but I'm learning. From my experience javascript can be very handy. I suggest however at least experimenting with php/mysql. If you're not familiar with it I would also suggest installing a package that installs php/apache/mysql in one installation. phpdev is a nice setup for beginners (i still use it because I know nothing of setting up servers) located at:
http://www.firepages.com.au
Another server package is IBserver
http://www.ibserver.com
I think those 2 links are right, someone correct me if I'm wrong.

I found a good website for me is htmlgoodies.com. It has plenty of pimers/tutorials to help me along, with some decent reference material. Good luck out there. I'm about in the same situation you are in, but I haven't programmed in Java. I hear it's a lot like c++ without pointers. I'll try it out soon, just downloaded the program from Sun the other day. I'm a CIS (computer information systems) major, but I wish I would've went to CS. =( bad decision on my part.

I think you'd made the right choice by trying those languages. You'll sure have a good chance in getting a job with them. In Holland the exspectation is that we'll have 10.000 programmers short over 10 years. I don't how it is in your country but I'll think you'll have very good chance with them.
One little hint, try GML. It's very funny and I'm sure it helps you becoming good in C++.

-=Jeroen=-

Since you already know C++, there's absolutely no use to learn visual basic. VB is not object oriented, three quarters of the generated binaries are null-bytes. And it's more than a mix-up-a-little-script-fast-for-one-time-use language than anything else. Anyway, why learn any basic language AT ALL if you already know C++. Ofcourse, C++ and Java for instance are both quite a lot faster than Visual Basic, noway that vb (.net) can be faster than C++ or Java, and since your programs are NOT GUI dependant, you can use or leave the GUI if you wish instead of being forced to one

Hm... this was quite the microsoft Visual basic bash rant wasn't it?

Hmmm.. I'm a sophomore programming major, and a real newb to the field, seeing as I knew nothing other than HTML/PHP/SQL when I started.

However, of the languages I've been taught so far.. (VB.NET, C++, COBOL).. I've liked COBOL the best, by far. And, in my class, there was only one other person who ended up enjoying it as well.

But.. herein lies my problem. The teacher swears COBOL is still a widely-used language, and it'd be worth learning.. surely I could get a good job with a language I loved, that way. However, most of the other people I've talked to have said it's a 'dead language', and I should switch over to.. anything else.
..it's all so confusing.. ^^


Oh well.. the general advice from you guys seems to be.. study the theory? Get the general idea of a lot of languages, not the details of any one.. and I can do that ^^

Okay, that's enough posting for one night.. time to do my C++ class homework :]

I think Delphi is pruity easy man. Probably the easiest one.

What i would like to suggest is, MASTER C/C++ and you can master any other language. Not only learn the C/C++ language but also learn various programming API's available for it. Go in for Windows programming with WinAPI and try out creating OpenGL/DirectX programs. You will then be able to rule almost any other language.

As for Java or .NET, I suggest .NET must be gone in for. History has it, Microsoft has won every war it fought (mostly), and it is sure to do so with .NET too.

Sorry MS haters... but lets accept the fact that 90% of computers are running MS Windows, 91% of browsers are IE. Hence when u develop a solution, its better to develop one which is tightly integrated with the platform. Java sucks at it. Swing doesnt utilise the underlying OS for its GUI looks, its slow and unresponsive... anyway... C# is a great language. With the power of C++ and ease of VB, it rules.

can we trust you that you're not going to mess up their company secretly with uber subtlety?

hehe..
well i take my professional committments seriously and wont be a mennace to society. I don't necessirly hate M$ ..but in last few years they have been sucking big time (with regards to WebStandards, IE exploits and much more). M$ is a good company ..and I think they can do better ..alot better.
I know its easy to criticize from outside ...but what the hell..