hi all, i believe a good programmer is one who increase his knowledge on what he knows on a particular language, but a better programmer is one who increase his knowledge on what he know about programming. i am about to follow the route of better programmers.....that is, learning a new language, so advice me on which new language to learn.....not old stuff like java, vb, csharp, php, etc. Secondly, do you think i should deprecate my Visual Basic.Net skills considering the fact most people dont use it again?
Please i need your advise. Thanks in advance.

basbone you are right but not 100%. As a veteran programmer, i can tell us that it is not about the language. It is more on your programming skills. Your demonstration of languages you can program with is not as important when compared to the quality of projects done in one language. In the banking industry for example i know of softwares written in delphi and COBOL that are still used by several banks as mission critical application.
My Conclusion:
Your choice of programming language(s) should be based on

1. Productivity (how quick can you churn out solutions with it)
2. Existing libraries ( this saves you from reinventing the wheels)
3. Community support (so you can leverages on other programmers experiences and avoid bottlenecks)
4. Your programming niche(Systems solutions, Business Applications, Web services/development, mobile(native or hybrid) etc)

Concerning VB.net, yes you can move to a new language but keep the knowledge because of legacy source codes. The rarer a programming language becomes the more money you make from clients that have such programs written in such language needing support. COBOL developers still earn mega bucks supporting legacy application in the financial industry

Thanks

Bros1: basbone you are right but not 100%. As a veteran programmer, i can tell us that it is not about the language. It is more on your programming skills. Your demonstration of languages you can program with is not as important when compared to the quality of projects done in one language. In the banking industry for example i know of softwares written in delphi and COBOL that are still used by several banks as mission critical application.
My Conclusion:
Your choice of programming language(s) should be based on

1. Productivity (how quick can you churn out solutions with it)
2. Existing libraries ( this saves you from reinventing the wheels)
3. Community support (so you can leverages on other programmers experiences and avoid bottlenecks)
4. Your programming niche(Systems solutions, Business Applications, Web services/development, mobile(native or hybrid) etc)

Concerning VB.net, yes you can move to a new language but keep the knowledge because of legacy source codes. The rarer a programming language becomes the more money you make from clients that have such programs written in such language needing support. COBOL developers still earn mega bucks supporting legacy application in the financial industry

Thanks

Thanks for such a detailed explanation and advice. I cant agree more on every statement.

I advice you get into c#

basbone: hi all, i believe a good programmer is one who increase his knowledge on what he knows on a particular language, but a better programmer is one who increase his knowledge on what he know about programming. i am about to follow the route of better programmers.....that is, learning a new language, so advice me on which new language to learn.....not old stuff like java, vb, csharp, php, etc. Secondly, do you think i should deprecate my Visual Basic.Net skills considering the fact most people dont use it again?
Please i need your advise. Thanks in advance.

I'm not sure about what you mean by mentioning java, vb (if referring to .NET), csharp and php as old stuff.
And where do you get the idea that people don't use Visual Basic.Net again?

If you check most list of popular languages today, you will find that Visual Basic.Net would make most of top 10 or at least top 15.

http://piktochart.com/top-10-programming-languages/
http://www.sitepoint.com/best-programming-language-learn-2014-mid-year-update/
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html
http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/top-10-programming-languages

I believe being a better programmer is more about your skills in problem solving not number of languages. If you can program in this many languages (instead of specializing) but can't solve serious problems, what would be the use? When considering a new language I think in the line of the strengths of the language and how many others are using it since you'll often find yourself needing to work in a team.

Aside from Swift, if you should choose languages like Rust or Avail, you may have the bragging rights for the only user of the language in Africa if that's what you want. You can also look up a comprehensive list of languages here; Maybe you can start learning them in alphabetical order as listed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_programming_languages

Best of luck.

uken73:
I'm not sure about what you mean by mentioning java, vb (if referring to .NET), csharp and php as old stuff.
And where do you get the idea that people don't use Visual Basic.Net again?

If you check most list of popular languages today, you will find that Visual Basic.Net would make most of top 10 or at least top 15.

http://piktochart.com/top-10-programming-languages/
http://www.sitepoint.com/best-programming-language-learn-2014-mid-year-update/
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/index.html
http://spectrum.ieee.org/computing/software/top-10-programming-languages

I believe being a better programmer is more about your skills in problem solving not number of languages. If you can program in this many languages (instead of specializing) but can't solve serious problems, what would be the use? When considering a new language I think in the line of the strengths of the language and how many others are using it since you'll often find yourself needing to work in a team.

Aside from Swift, if you should choose languages like Rust or Avail, you may have the bragging rights for the only user of the language in Africa if that's what you want. You can also look up a comprehensive list of languages here; Maybe you can start learning them in alphabetical order as listed.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_programming_languages

Best of luck.

do you code in vb.net?

basbone: do you code in vb.net?

Yes I do. It's currently my default language. I also code with C# and Java on rare occasions. I used to also code with C++ and PL/SQL, but I've lost most of the syntax for PL/SQL.

I want to learn vb.net just to see y it is more approachabl thn other langs.
Java,php c# old?
Wen choosg a language 3 things matter:
Execution speed of d final product (for this reason c++ will always b in use. Java will always b d next alternatve to c++ , anythg else (runng in managed memory mode) just wont do, for critcal wrk)

2. Community
No growg community means fewer libraries and support. Wonder y php is king on d server side?

3. Concurrency

concurrency is no more an optional feature. Its an essential.

You can try new stuffs like scala, ceylon, vala, haskell, clojure and see how u like em.