Ok I've had a small introduction to programming while in college, and have been thinking about getting back into it. After looking around I've noticed that ruby seems to be a good programing language and easy to use, though not to popular outside of Japan.

My question is this, what do people think of Ruby as a first language for a someone just getting into the programming world?

hi i think that vb6.0 (visual basic) is good for beginners or c/c++ is good to start of with because it is alot like java so u can carry on from there.

Ruby is a scripting language, isn't it? That means it's good at web things, but not an ideal language for creating local applications. If you decide to commit yourself to web scripting, it's not a bad choice. Otherwise I'd suggest C/C++ or Java. C/C++ are many programmers' first choice. C is a low-level language, faster but difficult to master. C++ is its object-oriented version. Java is platform-independent. If you've written a Java program for Windows, and want to run it under Linux, you won't have to rewrite it. And Java is more object-oriented than C++. If you'd like to build a good understanding of Object-Oriented Programming, then learning Java is a good idea.
One more thing you should take into consideration is the popularity of a language. What if you write a program for a website but the server doesn't support the language you use?
By the way, I'm not a professional (yet). Correct me if I'm wrong:)

Oh, I've just viewed Ruby's homepage, and it seems to have some really cool features. I might learn it later as well:p

Hey! I am interested in learning C/C++. It seems a good language to learn for a beginner. Trust me, I don't even know a single computer language, besides being 15.

1. Where can you learn C/C++?
2. Are there online manuals to this?
3. What programs can you use to practice C/C++?

Thanks

If you realy are into programming I strongly suggest you learn first C then C++. THe choice is not simply about popularity but power and efficiency. Although you can not use the compiled C/C++ on other machine but its not about portability I gues we are talking here its about programing. If you master C and C++ then you can learn almost every programming language including interpreted languages like Perl very easy. Almost all modern programming language borrows their syntax, structures in C and those object oriented programming languages borrows their ideas too from C++. Great games are coded in C/C++ and i believe that Windows too was partly coded in C/C++. Take for example Perl, it is an interpreted language mostly use by unix servers, it borrows some ideas in C/C++. Even javascript and java.
Anyway, thats just my opinion which of course becuase I use C/C++ and learning its history too leads me to this suggestions. Good luck.

To cyborgxxi:
Look up in Google Directory - Computers > Programming > Languages > C and C++, and you'll find plenty of resources for C/C++. Good luck

Ruby is a much easier programming language than others. It is not like, f. example, java which needs lots of codes and structures. If you compare ruby and java by making the same thing in these two languages, you will see that ruby is much easier. But as it has been said: What to begin with depends on what use you are going to make with it.

Well, if you're going for ease, then Ruby might be a good first choice. If, on the other hand, you think you can handle something a bit harder (say you have people around to help you out), then you might as well choose a harder language and learn that first. That way, once you've got most of the basics of that harder language down, it won't be very difficult to go back and learn an easier one (such as Ruby or PHP).

I'd say that PHP is probably even easier than Ruby, but it seems to have more pitfalls as you go down the road. (Aka, it has a lack of organization when compared to Ruby)

If you want to learn a real language (ones that can build stand-alone software, try BASIC first.

xboxrulz

Yeah if you really want to get into application development at some point, do not go for ruby first, it is only going to help confuse you in the long run.

I pretty much started out with Visual Basic 6, Borland Delphi 7 and C/C++ (using Dev-CPP) and also a little bit of Win32 Assembly.

For a pure hobby I recommend Delphi 7 and C/C++, but if you ever wanted to step into the professional and profitable market, you would have to consider learning the .NET variants of these like VB.NET/Delphi.NET and C#.

Hope that helps (mIRC scripting can also be very fun!).