Hi All,

I am starting to pursue a change in career to Software Development Engineering. I want to start learning a language. I found a previous Daniweb post on this "which language first?" topic, with good replies, BUT since my ultimate goal is to work for a software development company that makes NON-web-based products, I am starting this new thread to garner responses exclusive of recommendations for web-based languages (PHP, Java, etc).

I am aware that through the course of my new, upcoming career I will end up learning quite a few languages. However, I'd like to make my first 1 - 3 be the best "bang for the buck" in terms of current applicability (i.e. market demand, now plus next 5 years).

Also, if it is helpful for you to know in your considerations on my behalf, I am already at an advanced level with regards to Microsoft Visual Basic for Access and database development and administration standards.

Thanks in advance for your time and thoughts,

KingsWeBe

> BUT since my ultimate goal is to work for a software development company that makes NON-web-based products,
Learn COBOL then.
1. There's billons of lines of code out there, and more being added by the year. It just isn't going to get replaced overnight.
2. It's very unfashionable at the moment (and has been for a while). Which means the programmer base is getting old.

Lots of code + few programmers = write your own paycheck.

There's no real answer to this question. If I had to restrict myself to three primary languages for the rest of time, they would be C++, Haskell, and Oz. If you're looking for current usefulness, or "applicability," I'd say C#, C++, and Java. But learning Java is trivial once you've done C#. I think one of your next three should be 'growth' languages, in that learning it should improve your programming ability and ability to pick up new languages quickly.

So here's my final answer: Spend a week using Python, a week using C++, a week using Scheme, a week using Perl, and a week using C#. Then, pick three languages by the following algorithm:

- Pick C# and C++.
- Of Python, Scheme, and Perl, pick the one you liked the least.

And then "learn" the languages -- meaning, learn how to use them, learn how to use them weirdly, and look at other peoples' code to see how they use them. Do it in this order: Start learning C# and the third language at the same time. After a while, focus your learning more on C++.

out of curiosity why the one you like the least?

You won't learn anything new if you only stick to what is comfortable.

ok, makes sense, i am already pretty fluent in java, and am happy with it, i'm also pretty familiar with c++

i was just curious, though

>You won't learn anything new if you only stick to what is comfortable.
Right. But dont waste up your time just to learn new languages. All you will get is shallow knowledge about many thing. There's too many language out there. It's much better if you have a main language and 2-3 spare one.

Learn something you can sell, up-to-date, and popular such as Java or .NET

The reusable and marketable skill is knowing how to program, not which language(s) you've memorised. After the first 3, they all start to look alike anyway. It might take you a year to learn the first one, but the 5th will only take a month.

Being able to take a list of requirements (usually vague and contradictory), produce a design, code it and test it in a reasonable time-frame and be able to do that on a repeated basis is what gets you jobs.

Not being able to write "hello world" (or other typical homework) in 20 different languages.

Anything less than 10K lines is student homework territory.

[quote=Salem;638806]>
Learn COBOL then...QUOTE]

I like your reasoning for suggesting Cobol. Got any recommendations for languages #2 and #3?

Different and useful - Perl
Different and obscure - Lisp
Different and psychotic - brainf**k

If business software isn't your bag, but scientific software is, then there's a similarly entrenched base of Fortran to deal with. Again (like Cobol), despite being very old, there are ISO standards which are pretty recent, which update the language for modern usage.

But my other reply about learning how to program is much more important than any specific language (like learning to drive vs. the car you choose at various points in your life).