C++ funnies

[muyuubyou]

I see. They most probably are Pascal/Fortran folks. There was that debate at Stony Brook (NY) years ago. Pascal or C to begin with...

My promotion started with Pascal then continued to C. Worked for me, but some people I know started with C and didn't have much problem either.

Pascal did help me with old code and later with some job position using Delphi. No big deal anyway, it's rather easy to switch in reasonable time, but both are demanding.

[derFunkenstein]

I learned Pascal in high school (TP6.0, w00t!) and I loved it. But my interest in programming waned quite a bit when I went on to college and started taking C...bleah. I realized I was more of a hardware junkie and much better at supporting software than creating it.

[BigMadDrongo]

The first language they teach us is Standard ML (the lecturer was on the committee that designed it), then we do Java. That's it for the first year.
The ML lecturer didn't seem very keen on Fortran. The Java lecturer didn't seem very keen on anything, but then he was a crap lecturer. Don't know how they stand with Pascal.

[fc34]

Really, you need to know that some people just arent so lucky as to have a teacher. It's just life.

[fc34]

And, I personally believe that BASIC is a good start, I DID NOT say that BASIC is the way to go. I believe that BASIC is NOT a language to learn if you want to become a successful programmer. However, I think that it is good for me, for writing single use programs....much better than having to include all the libraries and stuff just for a 30 line program.

[IntelMole]

To me, BASIC is just an exercise in logic...

I could write programs in VBA on my first day that I can't do on C after about 2 weeks...

And VBA was the first language I tried to use in any sort of way...

It's so easy to write with, although this comes at the price of speed (since you access everything through Office)...

As an exercise in "learning coding skills," it's good,
IntelMole

[danny e.]

To me, BASIC is just an exercise in logic...

I could write programs in VBA on my first day that I can't do on C after about 2 weeks...

And VBA was the first language I tried to use in any sort of way...

It's so easy to write with, although this comes at the price of speed (since you access everything through Office)...

As an exercise in "learning coding skills," it's good,
IntelMole

if you like VBA then you will enjoy Visual Basic. basically the same structure... and very easy to learn. The do everything in VB where i work..... next version of our software is C# though. I enjoy Visual Basic now... used to despise it because of the limitations.... however for most things it works really well... and it cuts development time in half.

[JavaDog]

Lol, that is funny...

On the Python thing, we have a brilliant tech here who programs, makes me so jealous, and I asked him if Python would be a good way for me to get into programming...his response, which I feel makes sense, was "Why LEARN to program in something that is not a serious BUSINESS language, right now, you are much better off going with .NET and C#..."

[IntelMole]

If you're that bothered about a BUSINESS language right now, you should be learning Java, then ".NET and C"

IIRC, I remember seeing some figures on the most used languages, and Java came top, closely followed by C++...

But then again, I haven't exactly followed the trends of the past couple years lol,
IntelMole

[Revenent]

Hmmm - so what the heck am I?

Started with AppleSoft BASIC, then dived into 6502 machine code and assembly. Hopped up a little into QuickBASIC before jumping into C. Then did the OO leap into C++.

Then school pushed me back down to Pascal. Bounced back in university to C/C++ with a smattering of Scheme (LISP-variant). Then a 4 year mix of ML, Prolog, Java, C, C++.

Now working and about to jump into Managed C++ and C#.

According to this thread, I must be one messed up individual!

[Craig P.]

They most probably are Pascal/Fortran folks.

Don't see how Fortran has anything to do with Pascal.

[Craig P.]

- "Object oriented" languages like C++ and Java provide better data abstraction and modularity [than VB]. While this is no guarantee of good programming (it is certainly possible to write unmaintainable code in these languages as well), they provide a better framework for writing large complex applications in a logical, modular fashion.

VB comes pretty close -- it doesn't have outright inheritance, but a) that can be faked, and b) it's pretty rare that I use inheritance in C++ outside the context of more advanced features.

Given my experience with VB and C++, I miss templates and standard algorithms a lot more than inheritance when I go back into VB.


(commentary holds for VB4+ only -- pre VB4 didn't have the COM support, and precursors were even less structured, we won't even start talking about the horror that is BASIC)

[Craig P.]

Whats wrong with learning BASIC as the first language?

It's a PITA to do things the right way. Not impossible, but a PITA.

(I'm referring to real BASIC, not modern variants like VB.)

[Craig P.]

C++ exists to give you the benefits of object oriented language with only slightly more overhead than C (there are disadvantages that i won't go into).

I use the generic programming features of C++ far more frequently than I use the object-oriented features. And when you put them together (as with ATL), you can do some really interesting things.

I think templates are the really exciting thing about C++, and what really distinguishes the language.

[Craig P.]

if you like VBA then you will enjoy Visual Basic. basically the same structure...

Really, the core of VB is VBA. The distinguishing feature for VB is the forms and controls handling, but a lot of that is effectively more runtime support than integral to the language proper.