Re: which language?

From: Randy Howard (randyhoward_at_FOOverizonBAR.net)
Date: 06/10/04 

Date: Thu, 10 Jun 2004 04:26:42 GMT

In article <40c7d767_1@news.iprimus.com.au>, a@a.co says...
> I am going to take some programming class and was wandering which languages
> were used the most in the real world.

What type of computer programming are you interested in. hint: The most
popular work is the least lucrative (supply and demand). Pick a programming
area that is less widely known and become very good at it. "Most popular"
changes far too often to sustain a long-term career in whatever is hot
today.

Also, a single programming class is not going to sufficient on its own
to base a career. Time and effort on your part plus well-accumulated
experience is the only proven path for success.

> I have been told that html/xhtml is the most commonly used language.

HTML is not a programming language, it is a format for marking up documents.

While it is true that many programmers also happen to know HTML, knowing
HTML and nothing else does not make you a programmer.

> Which other languages are commonly used in the world of computer programming?

The answer to this varies widely by what type of work you intend to do.

Scripting languages (as a whole) are quite widely used, and often once you
have learned one, picking up others is not so difficult. They're not
all created equal, but some examples, in no particular order, include
bash, python, perl, ruby, javascript, tcl, vbscript, etc.

Some languages are similar to the above, but tailored almost exclusively to
web design, server automation, etc., such as PHP, XSLT, and the like plus
several of the above.

For GUI programming and higher level application work, C++, Visual Basic,
Java, Delphi, QT, C#, and similar are popular.

For operating system internals, device drivers, and other similar low-level
programming tasks assembly language, C and in some cases C++ are most
common.

For large application development, C++., Java, C, Ada are probably the
most prevalent, with some of the .NET languages offensively consuming
programmer's time mercilessly as well.

For development, a number of "languages" (some case more appropriately
called "tools") such as Lex, yacc, M4, CPP, Awk,

For learning how to program, Pascal, Modula2, Java, and Basic variants
are probably the easiest to learn (if avoiding pure scripting as a
first language).

More esoteric languages that people love or hate include Lisp, Ocaml, Scheme,
Haskell, Forth, Prolog, Mercury, etc.

If you extend this to include "databases" as a conventional programming
languages (instead of a tool purely for database development), SQL and
it's variants are major players.

This is a relatively small subset of all the languages available (as an
example, there are at least half a dozen "variants" on C alone, not
including C++), so as you can see, you need to be more specific about
what your long-term programming goals before someone can recommend a
specific language. That being said, it is rare that a programmer will
be in the field very long without knowing more than one. As such, it
almost doesn't matter which one you learn first, as long as you focus
on the logic and flow of programs more than the specific syntax of any
one of them. 

-- 
Randy Howard    (2reply remove FOOBAR)
"The most amazing achievement of the computer software industry is its
continuing cancellation of the steady and staggering gains made by the
computer hardware industry..."   - Henry Petroski

Relevant Pages

  • Re: compiler for Chinese development language
    ... This relates to the development of vernacular ... Indian vernacular display, OS and programming languages. ... Bangla and other vernaculars. ...
    (comp.compilers)
  • Re: Head-in-the-Sand Liberals (LA Times Columnist)
    ... You claimed to have known several computer languages, ... If you lie about knowing computer languages, ... of the programming loop for a functional ... You also don't know Java. ...
    (rec.org.mensa)
  • Re: Is there a mainframe skills shortage?
    ... That's because the author of the article is comparing it to standard SQL. ... and material around Lamdas and functional programming. ... obvious which languages were the ones to learn. ... stick to writing system software and leave applications to the COBOL ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: GoTo in Java
    ... Scripting languages are programming languages; ... override the method.via an interface, or write a new method in the wrapper. ...
    (comp.lang.cobol)
  • Re: LISPPA
    ... >> a match for such imperative languages as C, ... >comparing Lisp with languages like C, Pascal and Basic, ... I can accept that Lisp tries to compensate of the lack of compile-time ... If you have tools of visual programming, nice editor, advanced ...
    (comp.lang.lisp)