View Poll Results: C++ or Java?

Voters
28. You may not vote on this poll
  • C++

    24 85.71%
  • Java

    4 14.29%

Thread: Which language should universities use: C++ or Java?

  1. #1
    Some Guy
    Join Date
    Jul 2004
    Posts
    32

    Post Which language should universities use: C++ or Java?

    Hi all. This is my first post

    I recently transferred schools and my previous school (GVSU) taught me Java, and the school I'm transferring to, is teaching C++. Unfortunately for me, my credits didn't go through. So, I have to study up C++ and all its details so I can take a placement test and get through the basic Programming course. My question is, why are they teaching 2 different, albeit very similar, languages? Is there an advantage to one or the other? Which do you think would be better for a CS major to begin learning?

  2. #2
    i dont know Vicious's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2002
    Posts
    1,200
    C++ and Java to me are so very similar, I think that it wouldnt hurt for Universities to teach both. It certanly wouldnt hurt you to know both if you're looking for a job

  3. #3
    & the hat of GPL slaying Thantos's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2001
    Posts
    5,681
    How about: both! I know its a real brain buster of a concept

    Oh and next time SEARCH THE DANG BOARD FIRST

  4. #4
    'AlHamdulillah
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Posts
    790
    feh, forget those two, go with C#
    there used to be something here, but not anymore

  5. #5
    Cat without Hat CornedBee's Avatar
    Join Date
    Apr 2003
    Posts
    8,895
    Ok, I'll try something interesting: post a serious post.

    C++: Very popular, very powerful, though its details are quite hard to learn. It's very easy to make mistakes until you know what to avoid.
    Java and C#: Quite popular, not quite as powerful. Far easier to learn, and harder to make mistakes that cause real problems.

    So, which to teach? The question is, what is the intention behind the teaching? Personally I think a programming language is best learned in self-study. Get books, sit down and do something. Sitting in classes is a waste of time.
    The intention of a basic programming course should be to teach the principles behind programming, the principles which apply to all imperative, or if it's an OOP-centric course, object-oriented, languages. As such, I would say teach Java or C#, for they teach those principles without distracting too much with details.
    Teaching C++ makes sense if further courses really use C++ and a good knowledge of the language is required. It would be good to have a teacher there to answer these endless questions about details. Look at C+++forever's posts to see what I mean. He would profit from a teacher to sit over him, talk things through with him and guide him to a better way of learning the language.

    So, 90% of the cases: Java/C#.
    All the buzzt!
    CornedBee

    "There is not now, nor has there ever been, nor will there ever be, any programming language in which it is the least bit difficult to write bad code."
    - Flon's Law

  6. #6
    Registered User major_small's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Posts
    2,787
    first off, don't you think the answers may be a little bias? this is Cprog...

    second, I think C++ because like CornedBee said, C++ is more powerful, but you have to be more careful... I think that you shold know how to use that kind of (sometimes raw) power, and you should at the same time know how to avoid pitfalls and learn good memory management.
    Join is in our Unofficial Cprog IRC channel
    Server: irc.phoenixradio.org
    Channel: #Tech


    Team Cprog Folding@Home: Team #43476
    Download it Here
    Detailed Stats Here
    More Detailed Stats
    52 Members so far, are YOU a member?
    Current team score: 1223226 (ranked 374 of 45152)

    The CBoard team is doing better than 99.16% of the other teams
    Top 5 Members: Xterria(518175), pianorain(118517), Bennet(64957), JaWiB(55610), alphaoide(44374)

    Last Updated on: Wed, 30 Aug, 2006 @ 2:30 PM EDT

  7. #7
    Sweet
    Join Date
    Aug 2002
    Location
    Tucson, Arizona
    Posts
    1,820
    Why doesn't anyone ask about learning basic in college anymore. It's a sad sad world that we live in...
    [edit] forgot the [/edit]
    Last edited by prog-bman; 07-26-2004 at 06:49 PM.
    Woop?

  8. #8
    5|-|1+|-|34|) ober's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    4,429
    Yeah... because that's a perfectly dumbed down language to teach everyone. Way to push the future programmers.

  9. #9
    essence of digital xddxogm3's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2003
    Posts
    589
    to know c++, you know majority of java
    some differences, but not much.
    I actually thing that a university should teach all languages even the ancient ancestrial or legacy codes.
    "Hence to fight and conquer in all your battles is not supreme excellence;
    supreme excellence consists in breaking the enemy's resistance without fighting."
    Art of War Sun Tzu

  10. #10
    and the hat of int overfl Salem's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    The edge of the known universe
    Posts
    39,656
    The number of languages you'll use in your career will almost certainly reach double figures, so the one you learn first is really a moot point.
    If you dance barefoot on the broken glass of undefined behaviour, you've got to expect the occasional cut.
    If at first you don't succeed, try writing your phone number on the exam paper.

  11. #11
    'AlHamdulillah
    Join Date
    Feb 2003
    Posts
    790
    The number of languages you'll use in your career will almost certainly reach double figures, so the one you learn first is really a moot point.
    that is the appropriate answer to this thread.... cause I knew something was bothering me about this thread.

    I have found that learning any language can be useful towards your career, if indirectly. See, by learning a language, you can then proceed to a different language and carry most of the previous language's concepts to your new one; basically, you just need to learn a syntax because you already know how to program(like going from english to learning french, alot of the concepts(some of the grammer, alot of the letters) can be carried over).
    there used to be something here, but not anymore

  12. #12
    Registered User major_small's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Posts
    2,787
    I think that just brought us back to the original point of the thread... which language should be taught in a university... and it also points to my answer: C/C++, because you learn more about the science behind the programming.
    Join is in our Unofficial Cprog IRC channel
    Server: irc.phoenixradio.org
    Channel: #Tech


    Team Cprog Folding@Home: Team #43476
    Download it Here
    Detailed Stats Here
    More Detailed Stats
    52 Members so far, are YOU a member?
    Current team score: 1223226 (ranked 374 of 45152)

    The CBoard team is doing better than 99.16% of the other teams
    Top 5 Members: Xterria(518175), pianorain(118517), Bennet(64957), JaWiB(55610), alphaoide(44374)

    Last Updated on: Wed, 30 Aug, 2006 @ 2:30 PM EDT

  13. #13
    5|-|1+|-|34|) ober's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    4,429
    But you can learn the science behind programming with any decent language. They all have loops, they all have declarations, they all have structures. So in reality, I think they should teach one of the more popular languages (Java/C/C++), but not so much from a "write a spell checker" point of view, but more of a "learn structures and basic programming syntax" point of view.

    In short, it doesn't really matter what language students get their hands on first, as long as it teaches the fundamentals.

  14. #14
    Registered User major_small's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2003
    Posts
    2,787
    I'm not disagreeing with you there, but my point is that with C/C++ you can also learn about memory management, streams, and other necessary components of programming that Java somewhat hides from you...
    Join is in our Unofficial Cprog IRC channel
    Server: irc.phoenixradio.org
    Channel: #Tech


    Team Cprog Folding@Home: Team #43476
    Download it Here
    Detailed Stats Here
    More Detailed Stats
    52 Members so far, are YOU a member?
    Current team score: 1223226 (ranked 374 of 45152)

    The CBoard team is doing better than 99.16% of the other teams
    Top 5 Members: Xterria(518175), pianorain(118517), Bennet(64957), JaWiB(55610), alphaoide(44374)

    Last Updated on: Wed, 30 Aug, 2006 @ 2:30 PM EDT

  15. #15
    5|-|1+|-|34|) ober's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Posts
    4,429
    True, but as an introduction class, is some of that necessary to know? What if you go on and never use that language again? You would have wasted that student's time learning specific stuff when they could have mastered the fundamentals if you spent a little more time on them (one thing I fault my first C prof with... we spent so much time on forks and semaphores that I still don't fully understand memory management or pointers... and yes, you can put me in that boat that used C in college, and never really had to use it much after that).

Popular pages Recent additions subscribe to a feed

Similar Threads

  1. Java vs C to make an OS
    By WOP in forum Tech Board
    Replies: 59
    Last Post: 05-27-2007, 03:56 AM
  2. Is C++ going to be around?
    By BMW-Guy in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 21
    Last Post: 11-24-2004, 05:20 PM
  3. C#, Java, C++
    By incognito in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 10
    Last Post: 10-05-2004, 02:06 PM
  4. Languages dying
    By Zewu in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 31
    Last Post: 07-29-2003, 10:08 AM
  5. Analysis of Top Programming Languages Companies Need :: Inbelievable!
    By kuphryn in forum A Brief History of Cprogramming.com
    Replies: 18
    Last Post: 01-06-2003, 04:23 PM