Thread: Learn another languge

I know HTML, some PHP, and of-course C/C++.
But I want to learn somthing new, I was thinking Java a first, but then I noticed that most people are moving on FROM Java TO C/C++. So that would be going down hill. Does any one know of any other languages that I might want to learn that are more advanced?

Objective-C, J, Perl

Java is very nice to learn. The fact that you have to always write classes in Java forces you to think in a very OO way. The portability factor is also very nice, as is the ease with which to do relatively complicated tasks in C/C++ (ie. multithreading, sockets, etc.). There are down sides to Java as well, but overall it's pretty nifty if you want to make a simple graphical program, albeit it takes a long time to really learn their OO tree of objects although their APIs seem way more documented than most.

On the flip side, someone suggested assembly, and I would have to agree with that type of idea. And since you want something advanced, that would fit the bill. You pretty much have to handle everything manually, from loops to even unsigned and signed numbers. Everything has to be expressly done by you. By the end of learning it, even if you never use assembly, at the very least your C/C++ code will most likely be very efficient because you'll have a better idea of the relationship between what you write in a high level language and how it gets translated into assembly and ultimately into machine code. This is probably where I started loving bitwise operations. Even if you just write regular programs in assembly using the C standard library functions, you'll still end up learning a heck of a lot imo.

Overall, I would recommend learning both Java and assembly, albeit obviously probably not at the same time. Java is still being used, but the main competition seems to be either web languages such as PHP and Ruby or the .NET languages.

I would recommend against C# since it looks like it came about from an ugly cross between C/C++/Java and then some other few horrible languages ran over it and left some bad markings. Nevertheless, it seems to be the main language for .NET, so it might be something you could be interested in.

I also hate Perl, but that's because it has rediculous syntax.... As the writer of an article on Perl at howstuffworks.com noted, in reference to the Perl variable/value/whatever $#_, "If you like that sort of obtuseness, then you will love PERL."

You could also forget about learning a new language and learn something that you can use with every language. A few ideas could be:

- XML: I specialized in Internet markup languages at my university and never regret my decision. There are SO MANY applications of XML, from the common usage for homepages to the more advanced B2B (business to business) applications that a strong background in XML is a strong asset. Furthermore, to get the most out of XML, you should also learn DTD, XML Schema and ofc XSLT.

- OpenGL: If you're not into 3D graphical applications, then forget OpenGL but if you'd like to try it, I recommend it absolutely. Not only is it usable in nearly any programming language, but the stunning results can be seen in most computer games.

- Design pattern: Design Pattern is a general repeatable solution to a commonly occurring problem in software design. As such, knowing your design patterns will make you a better coder.

- Write your own language: Even if this sounds very advanced, writing a simply language (interpretable: easy ... compilable: hard) that lets you write simple programs is the best way to learn the inner workings of your code. You can even implement new datatypes, add functionalities and turn it into your own favorite programming language.

What can I download a free assambler?

http://flatassembler.net/

If you can get Borland's command line tools, you should be able to start with that. It's been a bit since I used it.... but I believe the following should work with it:

Code:

.386
.model flat

public _main
extrn _printf:near

.data
	msg db "Hello, World!",10,0
.code
_main proc
	push offset msg
	call _printf
	add esp, 4
	xor eax, eax
	ret
_main endp
end

Quit simplistic, but it does assemble and run.

Asm is "unique", I'll give it a try, thanks.

i recommend assembly and python as a scripting language. i use scripts a lot on a day to day basis, it's really handy knowing a quick language