I'm an experienced web developer in the confines of a .net environment. I'll looking to start working on a desktop application, but I'd like to steer away from .net.

The programming language should meet the following criteria:

- High level Object Oriented (higher than C, more like C#)
- Not dependent on external installations (i.e. .net framework, Java Console)
- Has a strong community backing (tutorials, libraries, ect)
- The language is not C++.

So... any and all suggestions are accepted. I'd prefer a variety of languages to pick from, so don't all suggest the same thing.

Perl

Or INTERCAL

Haskell. It's not object oriented -- it's better than object oriented. I "recommend" this because it's my language of choice, but there's a huge learning curve, so it's not ideal.

The only real language is, BrainF'

Step back to Delphi... (btw, i also like the other mentioned languages)

If you drop Point #2, Python can be your wand. It is a language which will support easy transformation of your ideas to codes.
If you drop Point #4, C++ satisfies all the above points.

Perl is an interpreted language.


I still would go with python since it is really easy to learn and follow. It is not as fast as most of the compile time languages(like C,C++) but you won't care about speed for most of the matters.(All I meant to say is that it will compete C|C++ in most cases)
Python though requires python runtime requirement. But it is not a bad thing until you are programming stealth tools like trojan horses or keyloggers.

I agree with pritaeas: Delphi

Well too bad you seem to have a thing against a Python environment - Py3k is quite handy.
Seems like you'd also be against F# soooooo

1) D [ not C++ / not Java / not C# but ... functionality similar to and surpassing them all]

2) Ada
It is often overlooked but a lot of DoD drones n bots are actually logging 10s of thousands of 'successful' live hours.

3) Haskell
Easy to use but .... not a lot of people know the language though so you're kind of flying solo on most every project

4) Object Pascal
Less proprietary than Delphi.... less fluffy extensions from borland (and now embarcadero)

C++ya,
xkey

D is too complicated (but cool), Ada is too much crap, Haskell is awesome and has an awesome community except there's a huge learning curve which is awesome and epiphinaical itself, Object Pascal is whatever. F# is... an excellent .NET language. Obviously.

.Net still works for me! it's got a lot of extras that is easy to use, and if you do get stuck sometimes, you can always "phone a friend".

Delphi has got it's limitations and does not compile in all environments.