I'm a neophyte wanting to have answers on basic (not the programming language) questions... hope someone can give me facts/opinions.

1. How many languages does a typical programmer must know/learn?
2. Opinion: top three must-learn (for new generation of programmers) programming languages (plus each of its advantage/s that other languages don't have)
3. Are Turbo C and Visual C the same? What's their difference? Which is better? Do they need to be learned separately?

Just want to know these basic questions before I continue taking up this course. Thanks!

Define a typical programmer. It really depends on the person and what they're doing, plus exactly what you consider to be a programming language. Some people consider HTML a programming language, though it's technically only a markup language. Some people don't consider scripting languages (Perl, Python, et al.) to be real programming languages.

Web developers typically only know Javascript and a server side language, such as PHP, Perl, or ASP.NET. However, essentially any .NET language can be used to make web apps so pretty much anyone using .NET can be considered a "web developer". For web creation, I consider PHP to be vital since so it's so ubiquitous.

Business app programmers often only know just a couple of languages, if that. Visual Basic (and VB.NET) is probably the most common for Windows programmers and very few "Windows programmers" know any languages beyond that.

Database programmers (so far as I've seen) rely on SQL almost exclusively so I don't know what other languages they may use.

Even Computer Science students don't usually learn more than a few languages, typically C/C++, Java, and maybe a scripting language.

As a hobbiest programmer, I personally know 4 languages (C, C++, Java, and Python), most of which I learned in college. Most of the programmers I work with only know one or two languages, mostly VB.NET and maybe Java.

My personal recommendation is learn a powerful "scripting" language like Ruby or Python. These languages have extensive libraries and features that make them just as good as the so-called "true" programming languages like C++ or Java, but they are much easier to learn and use. Ruby is more popular with the web app crowd (when combined w/ the Rails technology) while Python is more popular for stand-alone and "glue" applications, though each language does just fine in either role.

Python has a longer history and is used by more people (Google, NASA, game programmers) but it doesn't have a strong presence for web apps; Ruby on Rails is the "hot thing" for web apps but straight Ruby doesn't have as much momentum for non-web based programs. But either language is a good choice; it just comes down to which one feels better to you.

Beyond those languages, Java is probably the most common one taught in schools today. It's closest "competitor" is probably C#. They both improve upon C++ by including and deprecating features to make the programmer's life easier; things like garbage collection, better arrays, reduced emphasis on pointers, etc. Java is probably more common (at least on the Monster job search last time I checked) and has better cross-platform support, but C# probably has better tools, especially if you prefer Microsoft's Visual Studio. C# also has limited presence on Linux due to Novell's Mono project but it's currently not well established; the recent "tie-in" between MS and Novell means that Mono will probably become better and C# will be more common in Linux.

The final language I'd recommend is C/C++. C is essentially the original computer geek language but is slowly being phased out since it's not object-oriented. C++ improves on many of C's failings but has it's own problems (hence the creation of Java, C#, et al. to improve on it). The reason I recommend these languages is that they are like COBOL: many, many programs were written in C or C++, especially open-source projects, so there is a lot of source code out there for you to learn from. C++ is still very popular for "high performance" code, such as 3d video games, so it's a good language to have in your tool kit. Many other languages are based on C/C++, such as Java, C#, Python, etc., so it's also a good foundational language to build on.

I'd recommend not using VB.NET, though this opinion is strictly based on second-hand knowledge. Though it is a popular language, it's not as strict in it's coding structure so it's very easy to learn bad habits, from what I've heard. From my short exposure to it, variable and function names tend to be more verbose than other languages (though I don't know if it's due to the programmer or if it's a feature of the language); this results in very long names that, even with the auto-naming features of Visual Studio, require a lot of typing. VB is also different from C-based languages so there's not a whole lot of cross-over if you switch languages.


No, they aren't the same. Borland produced Turbo C and Microsoft produced Visual C. Unfortunately I've never used either so I can't tell you exactly what the difference is, however Borland effectively let the Turbo line die out. They did bring it back last year but other than reading the initial press release, I haven't heard anything more about it so I assume it hasn't had much impact in the programmer arena.

MS's Visual Studio products (pretty much anything with "Visual" in the name) denote that a GUI builder is included with the IDE. Since making a GUI by hand is a pain in the butt, this is actually a good thing. However, you don't necessarily need Visual Studio to make a GUI; it just makes life easier because all your tools are in one place. You can still hand-code a GUI or you can use 3rd party tools (like Qt). Also, Visual Studio just makes the GUI creation drag & drop but you still have to create the code to make the program work. The drag & drop only creates the visual aspects of the program, like the visual placement of widgets and tying events to actions.
Hope this answers your questions.

a follow-up question, what do this GUI builder and IDE do?
ya i know i can google this up on the net, but the difference is
no more long discussions and all the blah blah blah...
just the shortest,understandable and straight-to-the-point definition
of it... i don't wanna dive directly at the bottom of the iceberg..

once again, Thanks!!

An IDE is an integrated development environment. It makes it easier to program because your code is usually color-coded depending on keyword, it often includes a built-in compiler (you just click a button), a debugger, and various other tools to make your life easier.

The GUI builder is simply part of the IDE that lets you drag & drop the widgets to create the graphical interface (buttons, windows, scroll bars, etc.). This is a lot easier than trying to hand-code all the widgets and put them in the right place.

does the C#.net and ASP.net fall under that category? should i choose from that two instead?
but before answering that, what are those with the .NET on it? you named "scripting" and "assembly" languages ... how about those?

thanks!!!!