Rush for it www.java.sun.com

Though there are other programming languages, java seems to have a lot of hype surrounding it (not fluke though). It's easy to learn, though you'll never stop learning, your apps can be easily proted across platforms with little or no alteration in your code etc.

Other languages worth considering are VB2005, C#(both restrict you to windows), C++,C,

I would go into programming for the love you have for it. Not necessarily for how easy it is to learn (and it's not!) or how much money you stand to make (only those that are very good at it and spend a lot of time learning it make money!). The money will not start rolling in as fast as you think. And, for it to continue to roll in, you have to keep learning, it never stops in this field. I have been doing this for over 12 years (the last 6+ years using Java), so I know a little bit about what it takes to survive in this field.

Since you are asking about which is more relevant to programming between Java and C++, I'd say Hit google and search for java and C++ for more info.

Oracle is a relational database. I hope you know that. If not, then google is your friend.

I think micrsoft visual studio is the best because it has lots of platforms and stuff you can play with. when working with it, you will be more like having fun than working and this means that there is nothing boring in ths program .BUT,

It takes a long time to install
it has six discs!! it took me almost 9 hours to install this shit

But its still a good software though.

@spade

spade:

it took me almost 9 hours to install this shit

If it took 9hours you'll need to check your system. my vb2003 took about 30min(or there about).

@tonyblu
Whichever you choose of java, C++, VB2005 will be worth your while.
VB2005 enble you to develop apps. very rapidly but only for windows platform (?for now). It is easy to learn. VB2005 compiler is not free (but for the express edition) http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/support/install/ , though somehow our people get by.

Java and C++ is easily portable to other O/S but learning curve may be a bit steeper. and development may not be as rapid as for vb2005.  You'll get their compilers free.

Wow that must be some fast PC!!

I dont know if anything is wrong with my computer but the systems check says it has a speed of 5.6 GHz(56,000 MHz)

So its either that the software is lousy or your computer is some ROCKET!

@Spade!!!!!!!
5.6GHz probably refer to processor speed that must be out of this world. Most people will likely not have anything beyond 2.4GHz. Right click on My Computer and select properties then copy the configurations on the General tab for us to see. A 5.6GHz processor should install any software in 2sec.
How about your RAM?

The VB2003 I installed is not even a pirated copy, and is OK. My processor is just 1.13GHz

I'm telling you its true I went through those steps and that was what I found.
My PC must have some serious issues tobe working like that

My RAM is 256MB

Maybe its the Morpheus Problem.

I installed the software to help me download anything I want. Both authentic and pirated stuff,
My PC must be having a spyware attack!
The software works like Kazaa lite and Lime Wire

Tonyblu,

Hi, welcome to Nairaland. Programming is fun. I wouldn't advise you to learn a specific language but I will advise you to have good problem solving and analytical skills then you can use any programming language you seem fit to solve that problem.

I am an open source advocate, I will advise you to learn Java. Python is good as well but java is pretty solid. ASP.NET has some good features but have several limitations.

I don't understand how people advise others to start learning Java or C++. I think its stupid really.
Its like going to drive automatic before learning manual. You'll be trapped with a certain habit and style for ever.
You'll never appreciate the beauty flaws of suffering with a power steering, no ABS, and manual gear box.

Lastly you'll never want to go back, ever. You'll hate manual cars and because you've seen the light (or what you think is the light)
you'll never pick up manual driving (unless you an extremely strong will power).

Having said that, I'll advice you start with a procedural language like C and then progress to an object oriented language.
Alexis once a person learns one language you automatically learn programming techniques and concurrently learn software engineering from endless practice (then UML, ERDs and other design methods inevitably come in when you have to work in a team and really "plan" your program).
The problem is learning languages like Java or ASP that are more specialised can be very tricky (you might end up stuck in one field forever)
If possible even go as far back as ASM. No university you go to will start by teaching you java as a first language! NONE (if they do you better run)!
They start with C at worst C++.

For a quick start look at my tutorial here - https://www.nairaland.com/nigeria/topic-7535.0.html its a work in progress.
Meanwhile like Bossman said for all other questions google or even better wikipedia them.

Some quick links -
C programming language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C_programming_language
C++ programming language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C%2B%2B
Java - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Java_%28programming_language%29
Database - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Database
SQL - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SQL

I don't understand how people advise others to start learning Java or C++. I think its stupid really.

Why?

I think C++ is a good language to start learning. You get to learn all sorts of programming concepts - like conditional statements, loops, variable, functions, parameters, classes, inheritance, polymorphism and templates. Of course, you can question whether someone new to programming will be able to take all that in - but the idea is to introduce the simpler concepts first, and the more complex ones later on.

Of course, if you want to learn a language that will make you lots of money, that's another story altogether. . .

Here is a post I made on macusersforum.com, there are some links to notes and exercises (these are the same notes I used when I was uni)

******
C as a first language is a very good choice. I can recommend my almamata's lecture notes it comes with exercises too (as I learnt C before going to university and practiced more than others while at uni I cannot be precise as to how good they are) but university lecturing always encourages self study/development and everyone who graduated with me used these same notes so they must be decent.

Software engineering 1 - http://www.eee.nott.ac.uk/teaching/h61icp/
Sofware engineering 2 - http://www.eee.nott.ac.uk/teaching/h62se2/
Object oriented programming with C++ - http://www.eee.nott.ac.uk/teaching/h6cse3/
java - http://www.eee.nott.ac.uk/teaching/h62jav/
******

.

Here in the US all the schools are using Java to teach introduction to programming/software engineering. They have completely shifted from using a procedural language such as C or pascal. The core introduction to software development classes are all taught using Java.

What really matters though, as already mentioned, is for OP to learn the general software development principles with whatever language, be it object -oriented or procedural. It should not be too bad of a transition moving from procedural to OO language.

NIIT,Aptech to teach u programming?! save ur dollars.
programming is a way of thinking once u get it(the concepts)
and master the tools(the syntax) u'll still not be a good enuff coder.
cuz a hammer doesnt make a carpenter nor a hoe a farmer so stop being language
centric.
only solution is practice,read,study and practice.
here is my take,
dont get strung up on the low levels, develop a bird's eye view of the language
- eg why do we have java , C, C++
- in which direction is programming and computing in general heading to?
i say this cuz , java will not be last word , and when the next language props up,
to market the next best thing will have to be lambasted,
eg to make java tick , C,C++ is regarded is put down ,
but core C,C++ developers abound.
if u go with the hype u wont have depth.
that said,
do with a language that toughens ur mental muscles.
not a language that tries to keep u from thinking or makes u think in a particular fashion.
personally,
i find , learning javascript before full java is so cool , javascript is like mini-
size java , u get instant feedback in the html page and u dont bother with
strongly typed functionality inherent in java[for security reasons] once u catch the basics in javascript,
u can move on to java , also u wont bother about design issues.

Hi,
well i am a programmer and also contemplating taking a certification exam soon. well my advice to u is to have a good idea of the area in I.T u would reall be interested in. U might end up venturing int an area of specializaion that u might realize u have no flair and only have wasted time, money and effort to show for it.
1. first Get a general idea/knowledge of computing first so that u can undrstand all the areas of specialization.
2. a computer is divided into the hardware and software. ask ur self what kind of person are u or what kind of task do u like doing: mental/abstract stuffs or mechanical(like handling physical things).
3. go further by narrwing down what area u're comfortable with. try to align it with ur career goals and the skills/qualifications u already have.

hope i was able to help. if u need more guidance mail me at richboi2xl@yahoo.com so that we can talk more.
Richard!

@richboi2xl n ejiagwa
nice one

With over 5 years into professional coding, i wont say i'm that much of an adviser but at least i could relate my own learning curve.
It all started with qBasic, for about 3yrs. (that was in secondary schl). I guess i stayed too long on it but it did really give me the ability to approach a seemingly tough nut and crack it quite easily later. Fancy writting a CPU clock speed  calculator using qBasic,  that's where it got me to. Next i moved to C. Didnt stay there for upto 6 months before running to VisualBasic. Dont knw why I did tho  .
VisualBasic was where i stayed the longest, altho most of my applications were system apps. (probably because of my long romance with qBasic). Halfway in VisualBasic marked the beginning of my professional career. All the while, I did little Java and C++. Believe me, it wasnt hard at all to use new languages,  the thing is simply understanding the syntax and making the language work for you.
Shortly after that, I moved on to the .NET platform,  picking c#. Wrote some comprehensive applications with it altho was simply developing dlls and writing classes for the clients and the online community. I really love c#'s java-like syntax.

I later moved from desktop applications to web applications. I'm currently into ColdFusion and i don't see myself leaving in a long time.

@tonyblu
Learning a language is not just it. Its the ability to mentally figure out the best possible solution to a problem that's the main thing. And moreso, you have to be really creative. No schl will teach you to write a CPU querying program in qBasic,  infacts, there are no APIs to do it. You think of what to do, hw to do it, and write it out,  don't forget to debug if necessary.
Relating to creativity. imagine your boss at work telling you he wants a detailed report with graphs that tells how people visit the organization's website and what pages they go to and how long they spend on individual pages. Not only that, he wants to know the pages they are on before they close the browser! Sounds like a daunting task right? but its very possible. check out http://www.google.com/analytics/home. It can also be accomplished in-house by using very simple methods. Its just a matter of creativity, not the language!

P.S. Some languages have implicit capabilities to accomplish certain tasks faster than others. (e.g. a web page can easily be converted to pdf or flashpaper using ColdFusion by just adding two lines of code; the opening tag, and the closing tag!)

I started with QBASIC first, then FORTRAN and PASCAL ( i also did COBOL in school too) before i finally moved to OOP using Visual BASIC. Try and learn at least one procedural language first before moving ahead to do Object-Oriented programming; it will really help you. Remember it's good to start learning how to walk before learning how to run.

@ishmael

yeah right!

qleyo,

You do have a point but I really don't see why you can't start from Java or any other high level programming language. They all have procedural capabilities built into them. Take for instance: you program so many sections or procedural codes but they are run/called using events i.e. mouse clicks, etc. They still call the procedural codes don't they? What C can do, Python can do it more and in less lines of code. I am not saying people shouldn't learn C, or Basic or other easier programming languages; I am saying look at the problem and solve it before using any programming tool to solve it.

Tonyblu,

My advise to you still stands, know how to solve the problem first, know your flow-charts pretty well and use the most efficient tool to solve the probelm. Take for instance, I wouldn't use java to query a database and return a record set because I know to do that, I will need nothing less than 100 lines of code or more doing it in java. Instead, I will use PHP which will do it in 20 lines or less. Less code, less bugs; every good programmer will tell you that.

When problem solving, my recommended approaches are:

1. Analysis: Determine the what you need to solve the problem, i.e. components of the problem
2. Design: Describe the prerequisites and information you need to solve your problem.
3. Implement: Develop the code that implements the various information and the overall process, i.e. determine what tool to use to implement your design and analysis, would you need a gun to kill an ant when you know you can use a broom? (this is where knowing the different languages helps).
4. Testing: Test the various code components individually and collectively, i.e. make sure everything is working as it should, if not - repeat the process again. Sometimes, you have have to repeat the above steps for sub-problems that are part of a whole problem.

So, be open-minded, don't narrow yourself to a particular way of doing things. Be creative and inventive, that is what programming is all about.

Good luck

alexis:

My advise to you still stands, know how to solve the problem first, know your flow-charts pretty well and use the most efficient tool to solve the probelm. Take for instance, I wouldn't use java to query a database and return a record set because I know to do that, I will need nothing less than 100 lines of code or more doing it in java. Instead, I will use PHP which will do it in 20 lines or less. Less code, less bugs; every good programmer will tell you that.

@alexis
You just mixed things up for Tonyblu. He might think PHP is a desktop programming language. We shouldn't get him confused yet, cos from his statements, he doesnt knw anything about programming or the languages. You've got a point tho.

And guess what, doing a query in ColdFusion uses just 3 lines.

 
 <cfquery name='rsFoo' datasource='dsn'>
       Select * from Table where feild = 'foo'
 </cfquery>

To return results, use

 #rsFoo.{feild_name}#

@Tonyblu
Let me know how you are doing, right? I'll really be glad to help.

@sbucareer
Whoa!!! That was a really long one, and i must say i enjoyed every bit of it.
The three line example i gave was just to compliment what alexis said, not argue with him.

Personally, in basic web applications development, I dont see why you should go into deep details such as the over 3000 API's that make up a recordset i Java. If we were talking enterprise applications, then no problem. I'd readily start coding and developing the classes to do that.

P.S.: Your posts are quite unreadable on my system. why not use a more universal font?