C++ or Visual Basic easier to start learning?

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Trish

I wish to gain knowledge on a programming language. C++ programs seems very
difficult to understand.

Thanks for any replies.
 
Trish said:
I wish to gain knowledge on a programming language. C++ programs seems
very difficult to understand.

Thanks for any replies.
Click to expand...
They are very different in nature. VB is "easier" in my opinion, and used
for completley differnt thing then the "harder one" C++.
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Trish said:
I wish to gain knowledge on a programming language. C++
programs seems very difficult to understand.
Click to expand...


They're both object-oriented languages, but C++ has
some features which make it more powerful. Pointer
manipulation and templates come to mind. C++ also
executes faster because it is pre-compiled directly to
machine instructions rather than to an intermediate
"meta" language as Visual Basic (and C# and Java)
are. If you plan on writing drivers or OS routines you'd
write them in C++ or maybe even in C. On the otherhand,
if you want to write applications which don't require top
speed and you want to take advantage of the facilities
provided by a runtime environment, Visual Basic would
would be suitable. In that situation, though, I'd prefer
C# to Visual Basic. Both are supported by Microsoft's
Visual Studio development environment and the .NET
Framework, but C# has more demand right now, and it
seems to be Microsoft's favorite among the two.

*TimDaniels*
 
Visual Basic is the easier to learn - it's less fussy about little things
like capital letters and semicolons at the end of lines, for example - so it
would probably be the better language to start with, if you want to become
productive quickly.

C++ is harder to understand initially, yes, but some of the more powerful
stuff is easier in C++ - partly because alot of high powered code, and
documentation examples, are written in that language, and to translate them
from C++, into any other language, would be extra effort.

--
Jon

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Trish said:
I wish to gain knowledge on a programming language. C++ programs seems very
difficult to understand.

Thanks for any replies.
Click to expand...


Don't start with either, IMO. C++ is too complitaced to learn straight
off. VB teaches Very Bad habits, and there are all kinds of weird thing
it does that no other language does, that aren't very helpful. Java is
a good, completely modern language. C is easy to learn, too, and is a
good stepping stone to C++.
 
Old geazer talking here...

"Learning to Program" and "Learning to Program Windows" are two VERY
different things! IMHO, the latter requires a good foundation in the
former, and attempting the latter first teaches a lot of bad habits and
misconceptions about how programs actually work.

That being said, if all you want to do is write some quick windows
programs then VB is a lot easier to get results quickly. Try to find a
simple develpoment tool, the old QuickBasic actually worked well (I think
it can still run in XP, tho it's clunky by today's standards.) Note that
VB's strength is in building the USER INTERFACE quickly, fleshing out the
core logic is still done the old-fashioned way, and that's where simply
learning how to program is needed; C is the preferred way to learn these
basics.

You might want to ask a High School or College "computer geek" what
they're using these days to teach introductory programming; the Visual
Studio product line is FAR from simple for a beginner to tackle (plus it's
expensive; even the free Express product is not really beginner oriented).
This being summer and all, check if the local school district or community
college is offer a continuing education class in programming, that'd be a
good way to get your feet wet.

Several years ago there were some books that included a stripped down
development environment CD in the back, basically a minimal VB. They may
still be around.

For learning "real" programming, I actually still recomend Turbo C++ v3.0
for DOS (yeah, DOS), for beginners. It was the last of the "simple" turbo
products, it's small, fast, comes w/ very good books/manuals, and it does
run fine in XP's "DOS Shell". It easily builds "console" programs, so
it's useful w/ most basic "learn how to program" books that DO NOT
concentrate on Windows. Note it's an old implementation of C++ (V1.0), so
the latest stuff just isn't in there, but for a learner picking up C and
transitioning to C++ it's fine. Finding a copy of it may be hard, so many
people have simply tossed it in the trash years ago. Dig thru the bins at
computer fairs and such.

And of course, google is your friend! I'm sure there are beginner
programming sites out there, search around, and good luck!
 
I agree that C is a good programming language to begin with, but I actually
found that Java is a great foundation to build on if you take the time to
learn. I found that VB and C++ were easier to learn once you know Java. Just
a thought.

Thank you,
Matthew
 
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