What programming languages do you know?

[progcomputeach]

I'm interested to see how many languages most programmers end up learning and what languages are the most useful or popular. I've seen people talk about Javascript, C, PHP, Visual Basic, SQL, Java, and Python a lot.

I thought it would be good to write down a list of programming languages to see which is the most popular..

[Ketsuekiame]

Totally depends what you want to do.

If you want to build a web application, I wouldn't use C :P

A good collection to know would be C++, C#, PHP, ASP .NET and Javascript. I baulk at saying Visual Basic because I honestly don't know what advantages it has over C#.

C# is good for Web Services, business applications and anything where development time is more important than the performance of the application.

C++ is useful for the lower level development that you simply can't do in C#. When you need high performance applications (such as the latest in 3D rendering or complex algorithmic computation). Knowing C++ also allows you a quick step to C which you can use to write Drivers in Windows or Kernel mods for Linux.

PHP and ASP both effectively do the same thing except ASP is tied to Microsoft where-as PHP isn't. I find ASP to be more useful but that's because of the work I do, especially in MVC patterns. PHP hasn't quite caught up to the same standard as Monorail and ASP .NET MVC 2.

Javascript is a must for any web developer. Keen subjects to look into are jQuery and AJAX which allow asynchronous and "apparent" two-way communication between web services and your page. They can do a lot of work without the user having to reload the page or refresh it.

This forum uses a combination of AJAX and jQuery to update the pages.

[raj_developer]

I have learned C,C++,VB,Java,PL/SQL,TSQL,C#,Python,JavaScript
I am using C#,Python,JavaScript,PL/SQL and TSQL for my projects now. earlier I used VB for my projects.

[Lusiphur]

Well, way to steal my thunder Ketsuekiame :twisted:

You covered all the stuff I'd have said and more in most areas.

What I would add is that (again, depending what direction you are going to take) it seems that a lot of game developers are tending towards a combination of scripting languages and either C++ or Python for the bulk of their coding needs. As indicated above, C# is good if you're doing web-apps in ASP.Net or if you're doing basic windows forms but it lacks in flexibility and power over C++ and requires a larger resource overhead to run apps written in C#.

[progcomputeach]

Thanks for your comments everyone.

What level of maths do you need to know before programming?

A friend said programming requires too much maths knowledge-I said that you just need to know the basics (addition, subtraction, division, multiplication). He also reckons HTML is a programming language ;-)

In the majority of cases the Maths is quite basic(working on general programs). In some cases(e.g. if you work in engineering, CAD) the Maths may be more complex.

What do you think? What level is your maths knowledge?

[Ketsuekiame]

My mathematics knowledge is quite high because that's where my work lies. However, I've written applications which require no maths at all.

This program I wrote basically stores and retrieves data using a database, displays the data to the user in a Windows Form and asks the user to modify/look at/ignore it.

That application required no maths at all it was literally just ferrying data to and from a database. If you take up C# you will find that this is where most of the applications lay. That is unless you work in the financial markets, in which case your maths better be damn good ;)

For the majority of my work, I need to have a high level of maths as it involves 3D animation, rendering and manipulation of objects inside a virtual space. So I need to know such mathematics as Quaternions, Vector manipulation, Differentiation and a fair amount of physics :)

If you struggle at maths and you want to be a programmer, pick your employer carefully and you'll never need to use it in programming, although typically you'll see a great reduction in salary. For example; working for a certain financial institution in the UK will net you £75,000 pa (about $127,500) whereas the same quantity of work in a more basic institution that doesn't have the same complexity, will net you around £25,000 - £35,000 pa ($42,500 - $59,500 pa)

[progcomputeach]

Thanks again for your comments. Financial markets-now that would be interesting :-)

[AuburnMathTutor]

I have learned and done work (including academic work, as a disclaimer) in assembler, C, C++, C#, Java, Javascript, Basic (several flavors), Scheme, Python, Perl, PHP, Smalltalk, Ada, Pascal, Fortran90, and Prolog, and probably a few others I'm forgetting. Plus if you count SQL (MySQL) and/or HTML, those too. And CSS, which suprisingly belongs to the previous category of general-purpose programming languages.

As an aside, I think that learning as many different languages as possible is important for, more than anything, the cognitive development and intellectual maturity of a programmer. This applies mostly to programming languages, but IMHO it holds true for natural languages as well, as well as other languages which are somewhere in between (mathematics comes to mind). Programming - and computer science - is about information and computations on it, and language is the mechanism by which information is computed.

[Lusiphur]

What level of maths do you need to know before programming?

Short answer: Algebra, Trig, and a strong comprehension of standard mathematics.

Long answer: Programming is all about relationships and algorythms. If you don't have a solid foundation in mathematics you will probably be able to do some simple programming as long as you are good with logical loops... that being said, more complex programming (like, for example, game design) involves things like 3D relationships between objects, gravity physics and other fun stuff like that so I guess it depends on the direction you're trying to go with it :twisted:

[AuburnMathTutor]

^ I would take it a step farther and say that computer programming is essentially mathematical, and anybody who is good at programming is good at mathematics - part of it, anyway. Math isn't just algebra, calculus and physics... a lot of it is "relationships and algorythms" (sic) as well as logic, set theory, and proof theory.

I will agree, though, that many programmers don't acknowledge that what they are doing is math, and that they would generally consider themselves less than great at it, and may not be good at the analytic stuff, but I digress.

[gunbuster363]

Famaliar: Python, C, Java
Some touch : C++, C#, PHP, VB.NET, COBOL

Executed some lines of code: jsp, javascript, asp ( a brief touch in school )

[sujeet singh]

A vocabulary and set of grammatical rules for instructing a computer to perform specific tasks. is known as programming language.

[manzarr]

I know PHP,Ajax,Javascrip,HTML and little know asp.net

[Ketsuekiame]

I know PHP,Ajax,Javascrip,HTML and little know asp.net

I baulk at calling any of those programming languages ;) (Except maybe PHP...At a push... :P )

[nicolajoseph1]

I am using PHP language.I think it is best language to develop website. PHP is one of scripting language. It is open source Language. PHP code has been embedded into HTML source document and interpreted by the server.PHP was developed in 1995 by Rasmus Lerdorf. PHP interpreters are available in both 32bite and 64 bit operating systems.