[Topgun]

my friend wants to learn c++ but he also wants to learn java. what should he try to learn first?

[Davros]

java's easier

[karajorma]

Going from C++ to Java though is easier than Java to C++

[Mika]

That depends on what your friend wants to do. Java is easier of course, but in the long run you will most likely find it terribly limited and extremely slow. [Yeah, and then try Scheme...]

C++ is harder to learn, but the plus sides are the speed and it basically allows the full control of the hardware.

So, If your friend wants to program games, I would say go for C++. If your friend wants to do applications for internet, he should go with Java. If your friend wants to do something graphic intensive, a bit of Assembly with C++ wouldn't hurt either.

Now that I think of it, I can do programming work with Visual Basic, C/C++, Assembly and MATLAB, but I am also literate with Fortran 77/95, Pascal, Mathematica and Scheme. But the problem is that I don't like programming. I leave it to the software people.

[Thor]

Q-basic..... 

[Goober5000]

GW-BASIC!

[phreak]

BRAIN****!

[aldo_14]

That depends on what your friend wants to do. Java is easier of course, but in the long run you will most likely find it terribly limited and extremely slow. [Yeah, and then try Scheme...]

C++ is harder to learn, but the plus sides are the speed and it basically allows the full control of the hardware.

So, If your friend wants to program games, I would say go for C++. If your friend wants to do applications for internet, he should go with Java. If your friend wants to do something graphic intensive, a bit of Assembly with C++ wouldn't hurt either.

Now that I think of it, I can do programming work with Visual Basic, C/C++, Assembly and MATLAB, but I am also literate with Fortran 77/95, Pascal, Mathematica and Scheme. But the problem is that I don't like programming. I leave it to the software people.

Java is only limited if you're not competent enough to identify the right tools/language for the task, though.  If you find any technology - beyond the noddy ones like COMAL - too limited, then really it just means you screwed up in the design & specification process.

[Mika]

Aldo said that:

Java is only limited if you're not competent enough to identify the right tools/language for the task, though.  If you find any technology - beyond the noddy ones like COMAL - too limited, then really it just means you screwed up in the design & specification process.

I believe this when I see an online measurement system that has been programmed with Java. It simply is not fast/competent enough to do such things at the moment. And talk about memory management... This has nothing to do with specifications or design, it is simply because the language cannot handle applications like that! But maybe in ten years the computers are fast enough to do Java as fast as current computers do C.

This is actually quite interesting since I hear that the people studying computer sciences are mostly learning Java and dumping C. I'm afraid this is a critical oversight and they will find themselves short of available jobs in the future. But this is only my opinion.

Mika

[redsniper]

Holy crap aldo's back!

[Snail]

Holy crap aldo's back!

AFAIK, he's always on SG.

[redsniper]

Yes, but I hardly ever see him on HLP.