What Computer Language Should I Learn?

Unchained said:

Other guys are saying C++ while others are telling me C#... What is the difference between the two?

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Seriously, do not learn C++.
Most people recommend C++ because the "pros" recommend it. If you do not have a TON of time available to you do NOT go for C++. It's a pain in the ass seriously.
It's a HUGE language and odds are you will never ever even make use of 0,5% of its potential.

I'd recommend PHP if you are after web based stuff. PHP isn't exactly programming though. It's just scripting. That does not make it worse though.

If you want to start off easily* with Bots and whatnot I'd go for either Python, Java or C#.

(*easily compared to C++. Programming is a long ongoing process and you will need a lot of dedication.)

If you are going to want to make desktop apps avoid python then. Is not possible to sell desktop based apps with python since you will need to give away the source code. Go for c# if you really want to go for desktop based apps and sell your programs.

Personally, I would go strongly after python since it has such a huge community of open source libraries, api bindings, db bindings, cool libraries for MQ, web frameworks, science libraries(numpy, nltk etc), and it goes on and on.You just need to become a pip addict to realize how cool python is, once you become a pip addict, then you will know how cool python is.

Now when you dive into python, then 99.99% you will have to use setup tools and pip in order to download the huge spectrum of python free open-source packets that are there.Once you finish installing python and setup tools then check out the WALL OF PYTHON SUPER POWERS!

So what is this WALL OF PYTHON SUPER POWERS? It is good that you asked, because as it stands out there is a list of python libraries that are the most famous and widely used across the whole python community, these are the bread and butter of 99% of all python code you will see out there.

I personally recommend to learn the #1 super power library, I use it on the daily and it is the one I have mastered more, you should too since you will need it for creating any bot that interacts with websites.I am talking about the lxml library.

Now lxml goes really nice with python requests 1,2,3 . These 2 combined will make your programming experience a breeze when making bots, especially the requests.Session() class makes your life easier.

http://python3wos.appspot.com/

Another thing, if you are going for python then I strongly suggest to program in Linux(ubuntu preferably) or a Mac.
I would avoid really coding python in windows,reason being that a lot of python code really runs on Linux machines, and plenty of coders code in Linux or Mac. I can also assure you that during your time coding in python that you will eventually be looking at the possibilities of running your code on the cloud, and for that you will most likely run it on Linux.

Trust me, a lot of python coders are eventually running their code on some sort of linux or mac machine that is for sure. There are windows coders, but most people that get coding in python find out that a lot of cool libraries that some libraries that are out there working for python are first released in a Linux or Mac version, and most of their tutorials too assume you have python running on a Linux or Mac machine.

If you truly want to take full advantage of python code and run it on a Linux or Mac machine, it will save you the hustle on the long run, even though python can run on any machines there is sometimes some c/c++ compiling to do and compiling on windows is a bitch.

Dude if you are starting coding first time you should go with Python it's easy to learn and you can create complex codes with it and also it has benefits when you start doing other coding languages. Also with python you can do many "bots" with or without the gui, for example if you have a server where you won't use Window manager system you can always use the "non-gui'less" python code in there. Other benefits with the language are that it's light and you can run pretty heavy coding with it. Don't go learn any hard languages like C++ or Java at start since you need a lot of more experience if you want to build "bots" or so of your own. And also remember that time is money!

I am going to have to say python... i love it! very easy to pick up has so many 3rd party libraries very easy for someone new to programming.

YouFeelMeDawg? said:

If you are going to want to make desktop apps avoid python then. Is not possible to sell desktop based apps with python since you will need to give away the source code. Go for c# if you really want to go for desktop based apps and sell your programs.

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I actually sell my desktop apps and code it in Windows - I just use pyInstaller (pyWin32)..and that's it! I personally use Requests + BS4 and it does do the job easily.

@OP If you plan to code desktop apps, use Python. Fast, fast and fast. And fast to develop, too!

daichi said:

I actually sell my desktop apps and code it in Windows - I just use pyInstaller (pyWin32)..and that's it! I personally use Requests + BS4 and it does do the job easily.

@OP If you plan to code desktop apps, use Python. Fast, fast and fast. And fast to develop, too!

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Interesting! Also is your code included in it. I mean what am asking is that, is your code like right in the open that is easy to extract your code. I might really look into this since I never looked further than py2exe.

Also I used to use BeautifulSoup4 but it failed me too many times on various super nested tags. I couldn't have any margin for errors in my code so I switched to lxml and I haven't had any problems.

Yea but pretty much everyone I have talked to uses requests unless they want to use the standard python library in which the use urllib2 and urllib.

@op also, when you code in python most people code in terms of systems, meaning a bunch of scripts hooked up together where you can pretty much code everything from front-end to back-end with python.

Also if you can learn python and javascript at the same time. If you can code python and javascript(especially AngularJS, Backbone ,EmberJs and some nice UI's like kendoUI,JqueryUI) you will be set, and have skills highly in demand.

In other words, if you really want to get paid and have very marketable skills BECOME A FULL BLOWN STACK DEVELOPER! YOU WILL MAKE BANK!

switchjohnny said:

Learn PHP, VB is a waste of time. You'll never use it.

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VB is a waste of time? That was the funniest thing I have heard. Half of the bots you currently use are coded using VB.
I prefer C#, but that's just my personal opinion, I don't think VB is a waste of time.

daichi said:

I actually sell my desktop apps and code it in Windows - I just use pyInstaller (pyWin32)..and that's it! I personally use Requests + BS4 and it does do the job easily.

@OP If you plan to code desktop apps, use Python. Fast, fast and fast. And fast to develop, too!

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Actually nvm, I just read the FAQ
If I use PyInstaller for my commercial Python application, will I have to distribute my source code as well?
Absolutely not. You can ship the executables created with PyInstaller with whatever license you want.

Dude, If I can actually distribute python exe without having to distribute my source code in there then this is fucking awesome.
+ 7 rep

Thanks man, I love you bro(no homo shit!)

Hey if you don't mind me sending you a pm, I have a few more questions about pyInstaller but I don't want to go off topic on this thread.

you will get n number of suggestion from n number of guys. master any one language and you dont have to worry about anything. but remember you have to master it. and you will get lots of papal monkeys in ur account.

Python is the language, easy to learn and powerful to build hard core Applications.

Depends.. you are mixing things a lot together. What are you trying to accomplish? Where do you see yourself in 1,2,3 years from now?

If web development then php, python or perl. If software development then C# or Java.
If game development then C++. If a hacker then C. If iOS then Objective-C. If Android then Java.

If Java then Eclipse. If C/C++ then Codeblocks, personally I've never run C++ in codeblocks.
If C# then ofcourse microsoft's visual studio. PHP in a normal editor, a special interpreter for python and donno about perl.

Then I think SVN is a must for everybody.

What would you guys suggest if I wanna learn for app development like android or IOS. Should eclipse be enough?

Unchained said:

What software did/do you use? codeblocks, MS Visual Studio, etc..?

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I prefer the Visual Studio environment.

Unchained said:

What do you mean with "if u become good at PHP u wont can build bots(web apps) with it too"?
Making standalone bots is what I do plan on doing, nothing extraordinary,
perhaps it can even be done with iMacros for browsers, but iMacros doesn't
really offer a lot of functions, like when there is one error,
the whole thing just stops, unlike with standalone bots,
I will be able to do so much more.

So in terms of creating standalone bots C++ is the way to go? BTW is C# and C++ different? lol.

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I mean most of the bots that we use these days be it uploading videos to youtube, seo bots like posting to forums, web2.0 , bookmarking, pining. everything can be done in php. atleast that what i use PHP for.

Unchained said:

May I ask the benefit of learning Python amongst any other language?

I googled OOP and from what I understand, I should learn PHP AFTER I have learned the basic concepts of the other programming languages. Now this is the reason why I want to ask the opinions of people who knows their stuff in this field first, rather than googling it. Thank you for that.

A little bit of Web Development for Wordpress since I want to develop certain functionalities with my own innovative mind, rather than just copying and pasting tutorials from other webamsters all the time. I want to be able to put my own twist at it to make my sites stand out from the rest in my niche.

But my primary focus is developing desktop apps. First for various IM automation software and later, developing commercial apps. I also want to create mobile apps.

C#? Not C++? Are they hugely different?

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C++ Has a ridiculously huge learning curve.
C# is more straight foward and Java like. I recommend C# because if you can wrap your head around the logic of this as Innosoft said. The syntax is just that. The syntax. The flow of logic is a programming concept you bring to any programming language.

Python, because it's really in-demand in the job market(PHP more so). IT's desktop and web-based app. Python, because the syntax is literal, easy and fun. Python, because it's fast, but not the fastest.



You wan't to develop wordpress?

Google: "Foundation 4" ; "Themeing Wordpress" ; "Bootstrap CSS" ; "Reactor Wordpress" ; "Making a Wordpress Plugin ; PHP"

Foundation 4 is a CSS framework that is responsive to any device with 4 corners.
Bootstrap is a CSS framework made by twitter that is responsive, not to absolutely every device, but the main ones.

Developing for wordpress doesn't take even intermediate php knowledge. You could theme a wordpress theme tomorrow.


What you really need to grasp is that it is NOT about learning 1 language, then learning the next. Innosoft said it right, you gotta prep your mind for the logic behind programming. I'd recommend playing chess!
Realistically, Python would give you the needs to move into other languages like Ruby, and PHP. C# would prep you for the Java road and other cross-platform uses.

Want to know the real truth?

I'm a big fan of Delphi, OCaml, and Haskell.

Want to know even more about the red pill?

You can have a Delphi+Haskell+Python+PHP+Java+C++ applications and software.
Some languages just parse data faster!
Some languages are just better!

A buddy of mine knows upwards of 40 programming languages. He was sought out to be part of the SETI project. He pretty much lives in Haskell, Java, and C++.

What did I learn in? Dr. Scheme.... Those were the days of learning how to fuck the circle with the line I drew... IN CODE!

Now, no further questions:

http://thenewboston.org/tutorials.php

This guy has videos on everything. Good quality. Easy to follow. Get to learnin'!

Unchained said:

So basically, learn math?

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nope... not exactly. u shud just know how to find solution for a problem.

switchjohnny said:

Learn PHP, VB is a waste of time. You'll never use it. PHP you can learn and apply immediately.

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SERIOUSLY???? both are good at their places!!

Guys I'll be honest with you, I only understood about 20% of what everyone is talking about, I'm rereading every post in this thread really. I appreciate every knowledge that you shared here. I'm googling the terms right now, I'll try to absorb as many info as possible.

Now, here's my problem, my Major focuses more in C# and C++. I'm afraid that if I decided to learn Python independently, I might go crazy with information overload..

Interesting though because I find coding as an art, quite similarly in fact with composing guitar pieces. I can't explain it but a little voice inside me is telling me that I'm going to love coding as much as music theory.

I'm currently downloading MS Visual Studio 2010 ultimate and crap it's 2.2GB lol

Python.
I was looking for something that could help me, where Zennoposter was not enough.
Found that Udacity course where Sergey Brin has an appearance, found out that google and lots of great sites are based on python.
Some tips to get into it:
Go for python 2.7
A lot more packages available. Drawback: If you have to deal with foreign characters or various charsets (you will), you must understand the whole unicode workflow.

On a windows pc, I recommend python(x,y) for an easy start, since it comes with a lot of great stuff, you can do a lot of things right out of the box (that spyder IDE is free and nice).
Since I use spyder, I solve my mass text editings (like change a value if you found a certain keyword, then grab a spintext and add it to the description with the keyword replacing a placeholder) more elegantly and faster with python. You can write small helper apps and gui based tools when you need them AND you can make webapps too.

For that, I'd recommend some services, that make it easier to deploy for the web:
Heroku - rather costly in comparison
Digital Ocean - didn't tried them but price is nice at 5$
and my favorite,
pythonanywhere - handsfree web2py, django and flask setup. just bolt a bootstrap template ontop and you have a website.

btw, everybodies darling ubersuggest is written in python, source code is available.