Interested in jumping back into programming after 6yrs!

[PunkRokPrincess]

Ok, here's the thing... it's been almost 6 years since I have done any programming other then basic HTML stuff. I went to school for 5 years and earned my degree in Computer Science - mainly software and database stuff (Assemply, C, C++, JavaScript, COBOL, Visual Basic, SQL, etc). Since graduating in '04 I have seriously not done much of anything (with the exception of HTML) since my career has been in television the entire time I was in college and I am still here. I want out, I'm bored, I want the challenge programming brings. So thus, here I am... I need some advice,

I've considered going back to school - really don't want to but will if it's best

refreshing myself again using tutorials from various languages - I still have the gist of things just need to get into the nitty gritty

some kind of hands on experience - whether that be playing around myself or whatnot

or other advice

So I also have a million and one other questions, so I'll just post a few:

Which language should I start back up with, what do you recommend and why?
Which websites would be most beneficial you think?

I know I'm probably out of my mind but I can't help it.... I want to get back into programming before I die of boredom, repetition, and non-challenge.

[sneaker]

What languages depends on where on this planet you live. Look in the newspaper and see what the bigger IT company's are looking for. Look into the biggest technical university in your country and see what language they are teaching. This will give you a hint of what is in the air at the moment.

What languages also depends on what you like to program. Are you a hardcore programmer go for assembly and C. Do you like UI go for Java or some other well documented OO language.

What languages finally depends on what type of person you are. From your post I should guess you want to be in the hot air. Look at the newest developing environments and go for the challenge to be very good at using it. Or go for a newer language like Scala for example.

My best advice is that you should try to trust your stomach feeling. You are the only person who really knows what YOU want.

Good luck :)

[Rashakil Fol]

What languages depends on where on this planet you live. Look in the newspaper and see what the bigger IT company's are looking for.

"IT company's"? Anyway, regarding the question of commonly used languages, the answer is something like Java, C#, C++, C, Perl, Python, .... The exact ranking depends on your location.

Look into the biggest technical university in your country and see what language they are teaching. This will give you a hint of what is in the air at the moment.

No it won't, unless by chance it is.

Which language should I start back up with, what do you recommend and why?

How quickly do you intend to get a programming job? C# 3. There exist .NET jobs to choose from. You'll learn more with C#, because it's a more advanced language, than you will with Java, so that's why one would prefer it.

Which websites would be most beneficial you think?

If C#, the MSDN language documentation would be beneficial, and a few blogs like Eric Lippert's blog archives would be beneficial.

[Sodabread]

It really comes down to what you want to do with programming, I'd say. Do you want to make games? Go with C/C++. Want do develop web applications? C#/Perl/Ruby/PhP, there's a lot to choose from here. Want to write embedded apps? Desktop apps can be developed with just about any language out there. Find out what's available where you are and go from there if you're not picky about what you learn.

[Rashakil Fol]

You can make games in C#, you can make web applications in C#, and you can make desktop apps in C#, so just go with C#.

[sneaker]

"IT company's"?

lol Bad translation, what I meant was software developing company's.

No it won't, unless by chance it is.

In my region the University and enterprising have strong interactions with each other so the education in programming languages is constantly changing depending on what is most asked for on the working market at the time.