Don't just master one programming language as that won't able you to create commercial quality products but what you must do is to master at least two or at most three languages as by doing this ables you to run each others executable in whichever your main thread is. You must note that c++ is a very strong language.

One thing about c++ is taht it depends very heavily on microsoft's operating system unlike java new implementation of swing that has very low dependence on windows.

I hope this helps you

Yours Sincerely

Richard West

A good programmer, like a good carpenter, can use a variety of tools, and, when confronted with a new tool, can apply his/her understanding of the overall process to incorporate it.

So pick one language to start, but expect to learn other languages and tools all the time. There are a couple of broad categories of STYLES of languages, it's helpful to learn a language from each category (in my opinion):

C, C++, Java, etc are 'procedural' - you tell the computer what STEPS to take and the results depend on how good your steps are.

SQL is non-procedural. That is, you describe what you want to happen and SQL figures out what steps to take to get there. 'Make', used in building applications, is similar in that you express relationships that should be true and the language figures out what steps to take to get there. These languages are generally more restricted to a certain domain of problems than procedural languages. SQL, for example, is all about database querying and reporting, but not work for building a game.

There are also languages that are 'functional', like lisp or prolog, and are more like mathmatic functions than procedural steps or desired results.

This topic has been discussed to death already. Check out the Careers forum to see what others think. Here's one post for example: http://www.daniweb.com/techtalkforums/thread328.html

I would concur with the other posts, that learning multiple languages makes the most sense. If you havn't programmed much, I would recommend starting with an easy language. Python is by far the easiest language I have seen -- and it is powerful. NASA, RedHat, and Google use python, and a friend of mine who is studying computer game design has found that python is used in gaming for processing game logic.

Python runs out-of-the-box on Linux and OSX, and can be downloaded (for free!) for windows. Visit www.python.org for more info and to download.

Just when you thought python couldn't get any better, it was named for These Guys [Monty Python]

just my $0.02

vermonter.

Hello,

I would have to disagree with Freesoft_2000's comment that C++ is heavily dependant on Windows Operating System.

C++ is cross platform -- Macintosh, Linux, Microsoft, Unix, and VAX/VMS to just get started. Granted, the user-interfaces might need to be ported (Windows has different API than Macintosh), but a terminal-only application written for one should work with minimal effort somewhere else.

I agree with other things though -- Multiple languages if you can do it. It would also not hurt to get involved with some shell scripts, such as bash or expect. On my linux boxes, I have bash scripts managing c++ programs...

Enjoy,

Christian

My dear friend Kc0arf have you ever tried to port the gui's to another operating system. It's true that you can port the gui's to another operating system but it will also require you to write your own (if you port to linux) linux api's for specific functions because wndproc functions like handle pointing may not work anymore.
You also may require that you also write your own activex controls or dll's that
work specifically like an rad enviroment in your compiler and even if you just port the most basic components you will aleast need to write close to 30 individual widgets.

Basically what i am saying is that dude what you said sounds super easy but trust me
writing your own os specific api's are not an easy job.

Yous Sincerely

Richard West