Favorite Programming Languages

[Andrew206]

What are your favorite programming languages and why?

 

[Crossbreed]

It has been awhile, but mine would have to be Visual BASIC.
BASIC...

• was my first language,
• it is very intuitive
• plus I like the built-in GUI features,

but I would be happy programming regardless of the language (especially if I could use different languages on different projects).

I build flowcharts in my head and then just translate them, as needed.

 

[Mike D.]

C++: Versatile with low level control. Lots of interesting technical details. Takes a while to sometimes create a meaningful application but I enjoy programming in it immensely.

Perl: Can be used for quick and dirty string parsing all the way to a full featured database interface or web client/server. It's the bridge between command line utility and C++ program in my set of tools.

 

[Mr Allen]

14 years ago I did a course at Sheffield Hallam Uni in Visual Basic 4, which I passed with an App for randomly predicting Lottery numbers.

 

[WildCat]

Any form of BASIC - it's beginner friendly, hard to screw up (relatively speaking), and nowadays has a wide range of applications. I started learning programming in my early teens on an ancient IBM PC that would boot directly to Microsoft BASIC. I. Just picked up the manual and began to piece everything together on my own. Also fooled around with QBASIC as well, pretty fun to play around with.

C++ would be my next choice, but it's a lower level language (more control, but with consequences) and not exactly a good place to start for beginners. Java also, smartphone apps are written with it and it's more forgiving than and shares similarities with C++.

 

[Mike D.]

Java also, smartphone apps are written with it and it's more forgiving than and shares similarities with C++.

Java's a great language and it's only flaw in my view is the lack of direct pointer management. But it's clean, well supported, and powerful.

That said, I blame Java for helping spawn the "programmer-hipster." You know, the guy with the Hadoop and MongoDB stickers on the back of his Macbook and where every other word out of their mouth is "Ruby on Rails" or "Coffeescript" or broken-out acronyms like "Content Management System."

Java started it with ant/maven vs make, and branded related-tech that have cult followings (evangelists) for Swing, JUNIT, Eclipse, etc.

Don't get me wrong: a good library is a good library. But the branded fan clubs are bizarre to me.

 

[icesyckel]

C++, though I am barely a novice. I played with it a bit as a hobby and took one into course. Seemed easy enough to learn, which is nice.

 

[Mr Allen]

If I had a PC that would run it, I'd love to learn Unity as you can apparently make almost any kind of game possible with it for all formats including Xbox, but you have to get a special license to create Xbox games and they're not easy to get apparently.

 

[Questella]

If I had a PC that would run it, I'd love to learn Unity as you can apparently make almost any kind of game possible with it for all formats including Xbox, but you have to get a special license to create Xbox games and they're not easy to get apparently.

Can you do it privately and just not distribute them or sell them?

 

[Tyrantus1212]

My favorite programing language is Visual Basic. It resembles English more than many others, and one of the best aspects - no brackets! It wasn't the first one I've studied though but naturally I was very quick to learn it. I do computer programming for a living and unfortunately I don't have much time during the workday to visit this community, except for breaks and lunch.

My computer science studies go all the way back to college, around a decade ago. I studied a little bit of Java in high school beforehand but I was always behind my classmates, and this guy kept calling me stupid; it was no fun. Yet something happened in college where I started understanding the material faster and managed to complete my assignments on time. Kind of like an 180 degree turn, similar to what happened with math; I wasn't all that great at math, yet something just spontaneously made me good at it when I became a preteen.

The language I've been studying in college initially was C++, with some basic Java knowledge from school - yes, that class did help me despite my struggles. C++ is not one of my favorite language though - too many brackets and asterisks. Later on I moved on to .NET, but my first language in that environment was C#. It was a lot like Java, and less like C++ (yet ironically it too starts with a C). I got introduced to Visual Studio, which I use to this day at work; one of the best and most user-friendly IDE's ever. This was shortly before my college troubles began but that's off topic so I won't be discussing it on here.

Now, Visual Basic. I learned it all on the job, on the fly. Just took a couple of days. I also know languages from other environments, like Objective C and a little bit of Swift. If I try to program outside of work, I don't know...I have trouble focusing. No ADD diagnosis, but someone told me I definitely have it. I'm also not very motivated, but I work hard when required to. Won't go into detail with this either, off topic.

 

[Mr Allen]

Can you do it privately and just not distribute them or sell them?

Don't know, you'd have to look that up.

 

[Bella Pines]

Perl, for the freedom and command line manipulation

 

[savi83]

I done a bit of programming when I was younger, I enjoyed programming in Visual Basic as I found it easier to put programs together and the simple user interface.

I had a go at C++, it was fun doing all the low level programs but there are a loads of different libraries with different function to learn before moving onto the advanced stuff.

I'd like to get back into programming but not sure how to get back into it - might find a course somewhere.

 

[Aeolienne]

I'd quite like to use Matlab again, which I haven't used since my postgraduate studies in the 90s. When I was interviewed for a certain weather-related branch of the civil service in 2001 they told me they used PV-Wave which was quite similar to Matlab, which begged the question as to why that government office didn't use the latter as standard. Apparently the office had three licences in Matlab for very special uses - I never heard for what end. Nor have I ever seen PV-Wave mentioned in a job description anywhere else - it's the Venezuelan beaver cheese of programming languages IMVHO.

As for Matlab - I wouldn't say I miss it, so much that I feel frustrated when I think how much more employable I'd be with 7+ years of experience in it on my CV instead of PV-Whatsit.

Screw you Moe Ftfice [the name has been scrambled to avoid recognition].

 

[Butterfly88]

HTML because it makes the most sense to me.

 

[MountainTrails]

Perl. I started with it in 1993 and it just worked for me. Something clicked.

Loved the regex power and syntactical flexibility -- it lets programmers be themselves and express personality! I'm convinced that Perl was part of the reason why the dynamic web took off with a bang (the other was the simplicity of CGI). Larry Wall did an amazing job. The early Perl conferences were pretty cool, and the energy was real.

When I ran an IT group, people were able to code in their own styles. I had one guy who wrote in Perl but there was always a sub main{}

I don't code for a living anymore, but when I need to whack out a quick tool or script to save time, it's still the swiss army chainsaw for me!

 

[Anonymous Ninja]

Python.
I enjoy its syntax. It also has abilities to be amazingly complex and keep me mentally stimulated.
Being dynamic helps as well.

 

[CSCoder4ever]

I really like C and C++, Pointers are just incredible, I love being able to manage memory on my own!

Though there are times where python is handy, especially when particularly interesting libraries exist for only it.

 

[Mr Allen]

A few years ago I basically taught myself basic HTML from books (you see, contrary to popular belief I DON'T have a learning disability) and a bit of Javascript.

I also tried to learn a game programming package called Dark Basic, but found it too hard.

 

[MWS30]

I like C++ a lot. I'm making a mod for a game (I'm sure some of you know what a mod is) where I have access to the source code, and learning C++ is really rewarding. I focus on visual programming, so I guess HLSL goes hand in hand.