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Survey Results

What is the best starting language for a new developer?   [Edit]

Survey period: 7 Apr 2008 to 14 Apr 2008

Some developers start with scripting and move to high level languages, while other start with ASM and continue from there. What do you think is best way to start? (Suggested by Christiaan Rakowski)

OptionVotes% 
Assembler (any flavour)512.43
C30614.59
C++28713.68
C# / Java69633.17
Lisp150.71
Pascal / Modula / Delphi1266.01
Python361.72
VBScript241.14
Visual Basic26912.82
The first language will depend on what area the developer will want to work24111.49

View optional text answers (93 answers)


 
GeneralC# vs. C++ Pin
The Cake of Deceit13-Apr-08 7:51
The Cake of Deceit13-Apr-08 7:51 
GeneralCredit Card Transcactions Pin
jamesmani2k511-Apr-08 20:28
jamesmani2k511-Apr-08 20:28 
GeneralRe: Credit Card Transcactions Pin
NormDroid12-Apr-08 1:52
professionalNormDroid12-Apr-08 1:52 
GeneralRe: Credit Card Transcactions Pin
Enquiren13-Apr-08 10:01
Enquiren13-Apr-08 10:01 
GeneralRe: Credit Card Transcactions Pin
Paul Conrad12-Apr-08 9:31
professionalPaul Conrad12-Apr-08 9:31 
GeneralWhat is the difference between these languages ? Pin
Madhu Kampurath11-Apr-08 17:28
Madhu Kampurath11-Apr-08 17:28 
QuestionRe: What is the difference between these languages ? Pin
Danila Korablin12-Apr-08 19:53
Danila Korablin12-Apr-08 19:53 
GeneralRe: What is the difference between these languages ? Pin
Petr Prikryl15-Apr-08 0:47
Petr Prikryl15-Apr-08 0:47 
GeneralLanguage is not as important as age. Pin
snorkie11-Apr-08 9:39
professionalsnorkie11-Apr-08 9:39 
GeneralLearning with Pascal Pin
AmauriRodrigues11-Apr-08 8:45
AmauriRodrigues11-Apr-08 8:45 
GeneralRe: Learning with Pascal Pin
AspDotNetDvlpr11-Apr-08 9:02
AspDotNetDvlpr11-Apr-08 9:02 
GeneralRe: Learning with Pascal Pin
Ed.Poore12-Apr-08 13:02
Ed.Poore12-Apr-08 13:02 
AmauriRodrigues wrote:
I think Pascal was created to teach programming.

That it was
AmauriRodrigues wrote:
Some principles and structures can be learned, starting with Pascal.

As they can with more or less any language.
AmauriRodrigues wrote:
Structured programming, modular programming, strong type variables, data structures and so on.

That being said, it depends completely on the student.  I was helping out a friend finish of his project in Delphi which we had to hand in at the end of last term and I wouldn't have said his code was that well structured, and he was one of the best ones...

-----------------------------------
My opinion is probably slightly biased but I don't like Pascal that much after the new stuff, especially as it's being taught in Imperial which is supposed to be a pioneering university (the EEE deparment which I belong to gets something like £55,000,000 in research grants alone each year).  My main gripes with Pascal that as a teaching tool why does it get people to declare stuff twice, yes there are valid points (I can think of 2 good ones at the moment) to this method but to introduce people, it's just an additional thing to remember.  The other major gripe is mainly with the IDE we have to use (Delphi 5) which I've got to say is far worse than the VB6 one ever was.

Things ought to change, especially considering Microsoft DreamSpark.  Yes I know it's a clever marketing ploy to get students hooked on their IDEs but there is nothing in the world that I've come across to touch VS2008 so far, apart from the concept IDE imagined here.  And now with them creating and opening up VSX to the public you can have specialised environments based on VS2008 without too much effort.

Now if only I had the time to read up on compiler generation etc to replace that god-awful PIC develoment environment... (Even worse than the Delphi 5 IDE), to be honest I prefer coding in Notepad and the command-line.



GeneralRe: Learning with Pascal Pin
AmauriRodrigues12-Apr-08 13:41
AmauriRodrigues12-Apr-08 13:41 
GeneralMaybe it's the wrong question.... Pin
bwilhite11-Apr-08 5:58
bwilhite11-Apr-08 5:58 
GeneralRe: Maybe it's the wrong question.... Pin
Member 9611-Apr-08 7:50
Member 9611-Apr-08 7:50 
GeneralRe: Maybe it's the wrong question.... Pin
bwilhite11-Apr-08 8:05
bwilhite11-Apr-08 8:05 
GeneralRe: Maybe it's the wrong question.... Pin
Member 9611-Apr-08 9:44
Member 9611-Apr-08 9:44 
GeneralRe: Maybe it's the wrong question.... Pin
Shog912-Apr-08 5:57
sitebuilderShog912-Apr-08 5:57 
GeneralRe: Maybe it's the wrong question.... Pin
Member 9612-Apr-08 6:47
Member 9612-Apr-08 6:47 
GeneralRe: Maybe it's the wrong question.... Pin
Shog912-Apr-08 7:29
sitebuilderShog912-Apr-08 7:29 
GeneralRe: Maybe it's the wrong question.... Pin
Member 9612-Apr-08 7:48
Member 9612-Apr-08 7:48 
GeneralRe: Maybe it's the wrong question.... Pin
Enquiren13-Apr-08 9:43
Enquiren13-Apr-08 9:43 
GeneralRe: Maybe it's the wrong question.... Pin
cp987612-Apr-08 18:09
cp987612-Apr-08 18:09 
Generalc# ;) Pin
pmartike11-Apr-08 2:25
pmartike11-Apr-08 2:25 
GeneralRe: c# ;) Pin
Enquiren13-Apr-08 9:57
Enquiren13-Apr-08 9:57 

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