Recommend me a programming language

[Gryndyl]

Stanford has a complete and free Programming Methodology course online here: http://see.stanford.edu/see/courses.aspx that includes video lectures, textbooks, assignments and software. Teaches programming basics with eclipse/java. Leads into a follow up free class that they have where it moves to C++

[hitbyambulance]

i'm not sure why some people here are downplaying Java and instead recommending C#?

[Razgon]

i'm not sure why some people here are downplaying Java and instead recommending C#?

Thats probably me - I have for some reason steered a lot towards Visual studio stuff and away from things like Java and Python.

There's no real reason, other than I have some basic familiarity with Visual studio since I used to use Delphi back in the day. Also, as I mentioned before, I found the easy of which you make UI's very nice

[th'FOOL]

i'm not sure why some people here are downplaying Java and instead recommending C#?

I'm a front-end UI dev and I have to work with that garbage almost daily. I'm sure someone out there is programming in Java better than the people I have to deal with, but I'm pretty damn fed up with it.

http://harmful.cat-v.org/software/java

A couple of my favorite quotes:

Java is the SUV of programming tools. A project done in Java will cost 5 times as much, take twice as long, and be harder to maintain than a project done in a scripting language such as PHP or Perl. ... But the programmers and managers using Java will feel good about themselves because they are using a tool that, in theory, has a lot of power for handling problems of tremendous complexity. Just like the suburbanite who drives his SUV to the 7-11 on a paved road but feels good because in theory he could climb a 45-degree dirt slope. -- Greenspun, Philip

Saying that Java is good because it works on all platforms is like saying anal sex is good because it works on all genders. -- Unknown

[happydog]

i'm not sure why some people here are downplaying Java and instead recommending C#?

Thats probably me - I have for some reason steered a lot towards Visual studio stuff and away from things like Java and Python.

There's no real reason, other than I have some basic familiarity with Visual studio since I used to use Delphi back in the day. Also, as I mentioned before, I found the easy of which you make UI's very nice

I do because for learning there is little better than dragging a button onto a form, double-clicking it, typing code and running it to see it work.

Of course that may not be for everyone, and certainly isn't how you would build a full application, but it is all about quick gratification to get started with.

[Tokek]

You can watch the video lessons for Phyton at Khan Academy as well as learn about many other subjects.

Good for killing time in a productive way I think.

[TiLT]

i'm not sure why some people here are downplaying Java and instead recommending C#?

I used to recommend Java for learning how to code (and then moving on to a better language when you're going to code for real), but that role has been replaced by C# which is actually useful outside of school.