Difference between c and c++

[Chinmoy]

Firstly, you CANNOT decide on starting a new language just like that. If you want to go for some application development with GUI and less botheration about the background coding, then maybe VB or smalltalk has something for you, but if you want to code for the first time, ui think c++ is the place to begin. It is easy, has the base syntaxes which are common to many other languages and has meanngful codes. So if someone would want to seitch from c++ to any other languager it would be easy but to start with VB, switching to other languages gives a hard time. Moreover with VB, youll never get to know issues of portability, memory management etc..

[Xav]

Yes, but to begin with, I would recommend VB over C++ any day. The syntax is just so much easier to understand.

[Chinmoy]

And what after learning VB? Itll be hard to swith to other languges. We are talking about croos platform and networking application development arent we? or we are talking about WINDOWS applications? In that case, you win..

[Xav]

After VB.NET, you could learn C#, as the objects are the same.

[MeTh0Dz]

If you want to do any serious programing going from VB to C# and then a low level language is a pretty ****ty way to go because it's going to take a long time. I will always recommend C or C++ to any new programmer, because personally I think it's pointless to invest a lot of time in a language like VB where there are limitations on what you can do and not to mention the fact that it teaches you bad programming techniques.

So, if you are willing to put the time in I would definitely recommend learning either C or C++.

However if you don't want to learn C or C++, I would recommend PASCAL as it enforces good programming techniques and can still do many things.

[Xav]

I wouldn't say VB is in any way pointless. And in what way do you think that VB forces bad programming techniques? VB is an excellent language to learn for a beginner, as the learning curve for C/C++ is very steep if you are unfamiliar with how programming works. VB can be very useful, as learning the BASIC syntax (which VB is based on) allows you to write macros and VBScript with ease. Also, the .NET Framework makes it almost as powerful as C# in terms of object-oriented programming. It makes it easy to switch to the C syntax (possibly with C#), and then into fully unmanaged code when you're ready.

[MeTh0Dz]

Personally I would not want to go any flavor of BASIC to C/C++, and I know this through personal experience. Once you know C/C++ however, it becomes much easier to pick up on other languages as opposed to doing this in reverse in which case you have to get used to dealing with lower level concepts such as memory management. A second point is why take the time to learn VB and C# before learning C/C++. I could kind of see learning maybe one before you learned C/C++, but learning both is a waste of time especially if your ultimate goal is to do C/C++. Why limit yourself my learning VB or C#? Especially when it is still going to take time to learn BOTH of these languages before you ever even get into C/C++. Seems like a very roundabout and inefficient course of action to me.

[Xav]

I thought maybe:

@ VB, because it has an easy-to-learn syntax. I'd suggest learning the classes and objects of .NET, with Visual Studio. Then...
@ C#. This shares the same objects/classes as VB.NET, so you're only changing one thing - the syntax used to manipulate them. Finally...
@ C/C++. They are both similar in syntax to C#, except they use unmanaged code, so you are again only changing one thing - the lack of .NET (unless you use managed C++).

This way, you learn lots of languages, and it's not too much of a learning curve.

Also, C# is similar to JavaScript and PHP, while VB is similar to VBScript and VBA, so you get a head-start in lots of other languages. I personally think it's worth the effort.

[MeTh0Dz]

Once you know C/C++, tell me what you are going to need C# or VB for? Other than the fact that you might be feeling lazy someday.

[Xav]

If I wanted to write a macro. VBA is the only language you can use for Microsoft products.

C# is great for .NET, and Visual C# for ASP.NET applications.