what programming language?

[rbelt]

In the old days, I was a pretty heads up pascal programmer... I gave that fame and fortune up to be a network and systems guy (cisco, microsoft, novell, etc.). Now that I’m getting back into the unix world my thoughts have turned to the idea of adding some programming back into the mix. Issue is, I don’t know which one to knuckle down on. I’d ultimately like to use the language in both unix and windows environments, i.e. AD (ADSI) scripting (yes, I still work a lot with ms products...), unix scripting, etc. I realize that that will probably not be an option as M$ is doing everything they can to keep clear of standard languages... (i.e. .Net, c#, no future native java support, etc.). My intent is to stay w/the network and systems engineering stuff but I would like to work closer w/web development and be able to automate admin type processes, etc.

So, what advice can I dig up out there? Should I start w/perl or java or what? Thanks in advance!

\\RB

[DJKAOS]

C++
I'm not familialr with MS.net or C# (dont even really know what they are other than VC++ 6 seems to be VC.net now??)

Java sucks in my opinion, I hate it.

I really like C++ it works on everything and I dont think it will go away anytime soon.

I make everything in C++ in both Windows and Linux.

[snak_81]

yeah, whats the deal with that .net and C# schtuff anyways. Doesn't microsoft realize that everyone doesn't use windows?? Or are all the operating systmes 1degree of seperation(lame microsoft ad quote :).

[Gnu/Vince]

Python

[Stuka]

Hmmm...cross platform scripting....Perl and Python are both there...for Web development, Perl, Python, and PHP, for 'heavier' applications, Java will do ya (and it ain't as bad as some make it sound!). Of course ANSI C should still work on MS, but it's no "managed code" - OMG, you might have to make sure you don't memory leak/segfault/royally fsck up on your own! :rolleyes:

[Riley]

C/C++ is awesome for both and .net doesn't make a difference it still can do good old fashioned c++.
Perl is okay and cross-platform
Java is the devil

[morphman]

Assembly language is where it's at. Its powerful and fast (and takes 10 lifetimes to program something useful--dont use it.)

[Cannonfodder]

Have to agree, python, perl, php are big scripting/networking tools. C# may not be just microsoft. Thought I read somewhere that an effort is being made to port it to unix..

[rbelt]

I think I'm leaning in the perl direction.

C# for linux... hmmm... that should be interesting as I'm sure microshaft is doing everything they can to make that as difficult as possible. Does anyone have any solid info on the C# or other microsoft future programming environments...

thanks

\\RB

[TacKat]

Originally posted by morphman:
<STRONG>Assembly language is where it's at. Its powerful and fast (and takes 10 lifetimes to program something useful--dont use it.)</STRONG>

Assembly language is the best (no sarcasm)! It does take longer to code in, but not that long. But still, you're probably going to want to steer away from it.

[dogn00dles]

Hey DJKAOS what do you make with C++? Did you learn how to make unix programs by looking at the headers? And GNU, what do you do in python because I tried it out and couldn't do much, though it was good fun nonetheless. I thumbed through some C# code, it looked pretty neat.

[rbelt]

I used to do some assembly/machine coding (about 18 years ago) but gave up on that quickly... I decided that playing baseball, football and soccer was more important... go figure.

\\RB

[siqe]

C# is a pretty good language; I have used it.

http://www.ximian.com/devzone/projects/mono.html

http://www.microsoft.com/PressPass/press/2001/Dec01/12-13ECMApr.asp

[DJKAOS]

The only stuff I have made with C++ in Linux is OpenGL applications, I used GLUT sot I didn't have to deal with any window making code or anything. They run compile in windows too.

With win98 and VC++ 5/6 I made some editors that let you change ratings for a basketball game.

One of these days I will probably mess around with KDevelop and try to make a Gnome or KDE program...I belive it includes all the basecode when you start a project but I haven't tried it.

[Greed]

Perl is good, it's probably the most widely used for language for web scripting...but I found PHP better, probably because it was a lot easier to pick up, coming from a C/C++ background...As far as I can tell, php can do just about everything that perl can, and I think that the only reason perl remains such a popular language is because of sentimental reasons...(Though I will be the first to admit that perl is much better than php at string handling! :rolleyes: )...Anyway, I'd say it's six, one-half dozen, or the other as to which script language you should use...

[ 06 June 2002: Message edited by: Greed ]

[rbelt]

OK. I think I'm going to brush up on bash scripting and then hit Perl (seems like that can't hurt). Who knows, later I may get into C++ or even C# but for now, I've only got so much time and energy.

So does anyone have a good suggestion as to the best way to p/u perl? I'm reading mixed reviews about 'Learning Perl' (O'Reilly)... I've checked out perl.com and there seems to be some good info but I'm not really sure where to start.

thanks

\\RB

[sasKuatch]

python let's you write QUICKLY. for simple programs it's great, and it eases the learning curve to C/C++

[Riley]

I learned Perl from the book "Learning Perl" and I would highly recommend it. After that get the book "Perl Programming" to learn a lot more advanced stuff. I'm also thinking of putting Perl tutorials on my website so you might check it out in the future.

All scripting languages seem to be easy after coming from a mostly C++ background. I also think assembly language is sweet though I've only done assembly coding for 16-bit apps and 32-bit windows apps. It's actually pretty easy and doesn't take much time to program a cool app as long as you already have a grasp of the language.

[Sawdusty]

just take a look at my signature, and all your questions will be answered. :D

[inkedmn]

Python

[rbelt]

I just did a quick job search on monster and here are the numbers that returned as hits (nationwide)

python: 80
perl: 1271
java: 3696
C++: 1358
C#: 97

\\RB

[drDigital]

if you're gonna go perl, here are some good things to use:

-"learning perl" by o'reilly
-"programmimg perl" by, yes, o'reilly
-webmonkey (http://webmonkey.com/)
also
-"perl & cgi for the world wide web" visual quickstart guide from peachpit press

good luck