HI NAIRALANDERS,

i want to begin a career in programming. but i choose for now  to design standalone apps(desktop with or without database) for system, final year school projects,  create server/client based (simple and advanced, cross platforms, web servers app) .Not bad if am dreaming big, i have the patience and the zeal.

what language do i choose from
,

i just dived into visual basic 6.0 since but piple are saying its obsolete.

so many languages are on the move. i just want to be acquainted with the best programming language that will stand out in all ramifications, something that will never fade away.

Thanks and God bless

if u already have a lot invested in vb6 you don't have to lose all that. just move over to vb.net and master it. I believe in seeing people gain mastery in one language before moving around. once that is done, other languages are a cinch.

besides your focus on desktop apps suggests you are interested in Rapid Application Development for business purposes. Vb6 and Vb.Net are not the most elegant languages around but they are unquestionably the most productive. more RAD apps are done in some VB variant than other languages and there are oil companies running on VBA-powered spreadsheets.

gain mastery, then explore everything else (you won't be a great programmer or a useful one if you can't write at least in one scripting language e.g python/php/ruby and one crossplatform language e.g java)

all the best in your programming career.

bright thanks a lot for ur post,,,i happen to be wearing the same size of ur shoe as i am also interested in getting aquainted with programming. u knw wat struck me was dat u reside in warri and fortunately i am also a resident of warri. 08134502092 is my number,,if u dnt mind i would want u to tutor me

I hear the Dothraki language is the fad deez days

I would say python...because if u learn it l, you can use it for a wide range of applications, desktop apps, mobiles, functional programming, Web design, os scripting all you need is to master various frameworks that do what you want. I personally don't like vb sha

Look, i have been coding and building stuff since 2008. I have also taught people how to code. One thing i can tell you (in my experience) is that people are

1) attracted to this career path (software development) primarily because of financial rewards and not because of passion. Much of the talk i have
heard is (which programming language will make me money very fast?). This attitude is bad as most often than not, you will be half-baked in the essentials of the art of programming/software development (NOTE: software development isn't programming as the former involved a whole lot more than the latter). I hope you have the passion. If you do i bet you that the financial rewards will come!

2) There is a big difference between programming and being skillful in a particular programming language (Java, PHP, C#.NET e.t.c). Programming involves a very good understanding of how 3 things work together to act on computer instructions.
1) Processor Chipsets
2) Memory
3) OS

For instance, when i talk about "variable scoping" or "memory leaks". These are not things that are taught extensively by any programming language, but are used by most if not all programming languages.This is the reason why one person can learn as many as 20 computer languages
without getting confused. Why? because at the heart of developing (creation), running (giving life to programming code so it works) any software, you find the 3 things i listed above being part of the whole process. "variable scoping" have to do with execution stacks created in the RAM monitored by (a CPU component called) the stack pointer and "memory leaks" have to do with RAM memory used to store variables and not reclaimed or emptied for reuse. These things i have just talked about are really important to understand to become a really good programmer. I am not asking you to go into Embeded Systems programming but i am saying you grasp the basics of these component processes.

Also, you need to know stuff like flow of control, data structures and algorithms (data strutures: ARRAYS, TREES, B-TREES, BINARY HEAPS, LINKED LISTS, QUEUES, DEQUEUES, STACKS) and algorithms (Levensthien distance, binary search, backtracking, depth-first search). Knowing these things helps you get ahead when you start learning any language. For me, i will advise you start with Java It will discipline you on certain basics and allow you fuller understanding of things in general

You can find more here on http://blog.coolandcodes.com and also follow up here @coolandcodes or @chritz_n

I'm going to give you steps i think will good for you ;

1. Start with python and know the basics ( just the basics , as it will give you insights to other programming languages )
2. Learn a low-level programming language like "C" and know the concepts
3. you can learn php for server side programming

Note: I mentioned C because it is best for memory management but far harder than most high-level programming languages.

bros am a robot programmer i use c++,simatic manager,epas4 and twincat there are many languages for your stage i recommend u start with something small