Best/Worst Coding Languages?

[DarkHalo003]

I've simply been wondering what the best and worst languages are out there. I know C++ (and apparently C Sharp) is a very good language, but I've also hear Python is pretty good too. As far as bad goes, I've heard (and experienced on the receiving end) that Flash and Java suck. On the other side, I know some programmers who adore Java. So what is the better truth Modacity?

[Tnnaas]

I've only ever used C++ and .NET, but for me C++ takes the cake between those two.

[RedBaron]

worst ever: Maple. Shortly followed by MATLAB.

[=sw=warlord]

DarkGDK

[Donut]

well, from what im learning in school now, c++ is pretty much the language to know if youre going into software development (or at least game engine programming). i guess computer science departments make a big deal out of python, but i dont know why.

as far as java goes, java is cross platform, and a lot of developers love that they write the code once, and it works everywhere. java is also kind of slow from what i understand though.

at face value, c# is pretty similar to java, so i mean, if youre trying to learn one or the other, the jump isnt horrendously bad. i prefer c# myself, but thats because im not working on cross platform stuff. also, c# done in visual studio has windows forms, meaning you can easily make windows .exes, those .exes can be compiled directly out of visual studio (because seriously, how the FUCK do you run java code in an exe? i never figured that out), and your programs look pretty because visual studio allows you to visually (see wut they did thar) line up the form elements. those are the big ones i know of.

all in all, c#, java, and c++ are all pretty good at different thing. you just need to choose the right tool for the job.


also, c++ is a huge bitch, lol.

E: today i learned disabling modacity's scripts makes your posts ugly.

[Kornman00]

.NET rapes the Java lamework. Java may have been a nice nudge towards a good managed, cross-platform language/framework, but it can't keep up with the advances seen in .NET. Plus, Oracle owns that shit now. Barf.

There is no blanket black and white good/bad description of a coding language. It all depends on what you need to do (ie, the kind of software you're developing), and what your constraints are (eg, dev'ing for the Xbox 360). Different languages target different problems in different ways. Some are swiss army knives (C++), some are domain specific (UnrealShit), and some are used as productivity enhancers (scripting languages, like python).

[PlasbianX]

DarkGDK

But isnt darkGDK just an extension of C++? and I find flash to be super simple too because most of it is like C++.

[Phopojijo]

at face value, c# is pretty similar to java, so i mean, if youre trying to learn one or the other, the jump isnt horrendously bad. i prefer c# myself, but thats because im not working on cross platform stuff. also, c# done in visual studio has windows forms, meaning you can easily make windows .exes, those .exes can be compiled directly out of visual studio (because seriously, how the FUCK do you run java code in an exe? i never figured that out), and your programs look pretty because visual studio allows you to visually (see wut they did thar) line up the form elements. those are the big ones i know of.1) It's a... bit more complicated than that...
http://www.excelsior-usa.com/articles/java-to-exe.html

2) Visual editors exist for many many languages -- including Java. Netbeans and Eclipse both have visual editors.

There was even some pushes to get visual editors for x86 Assembly oddly enough -- but I'm not sure if any of the projects every released anything.

I much prefer to hand layout stuff though.

[Limited]

Python is a scripting language, shouldnt be considered with 'the big boys'.

I absolutely hate Java. Theres no one reason why, it just doesnt suit with how my brain works things out. It seems to do every backwards. Annoyingly I've had my fair share of time working with it across many platforms and it really isnt worth the hassle.

They teach is as a stepping stone to C++, like previously said stating multi-platform is the be-all-end-all, when its not.

Personally I like C++, its a lot more flexible in terms of the way I want to use it, the industry uses it. Pointers pointers pointers!

In reality it all depends on what project your doing, C++ is the most popular because it suits most projects needs.

RedBaron - I actually liked Maple, it laid things out in an easy to use manner and made total sense. What didnt make sense was all the formulas and mathematics I needed to think of in my head :D

[DarkHalo003]

Thanks guys, totally forgot about .NET. I've always hated Java on the receiving end (my Lord it's annoying) and I feel like it's incredibly vulnerable due to its cross-platform foundation. Anyone know the deal with Flash?

[Zeph]

Python is a scripting language, shouldnt be considered with 'the big boys'.
I think it's like lua in that it can compile into objective c and work side by side with 'big boy code'.


I absolutely hate Java. Theres no one reason why, it just doesnt suit with how my brain works things out. It seems to do every backwards. Annoyingly I've had my fair share of time working with it across many platforms and it really isnt worth the hassle.
Schools seem to love it though. Mine teaches it thinking that if people learn it they can learn any language.
:facepalm:
Then again, the class I took seemed to have problems understanding the following


if (i < 4)
i++;

Literally spent a little bit more than five minutes counting to 5.
The major projects for that class were available for people to complete for upwards of two weeks and all but a handful started them as soon as possible. I started them the morning they were due and had them done in about an hour and a half. Documentation requirements more than tripled the source code file size and added another hour to the project.

fuck academia level documentation. it's a waste of time for the sole purpose of [not] letting you know the only time you'll run into a need for UML/attribute sheets is when you're licensing libraries. definitely not fun for entry level shit.



They teach is as a stepping stone to C++, like previously said stating multi-platform is the be-all-end-all, when its not.
The biggest problem with academia is that they flat out don't pay attention to what people do after they get out of school. Yeah, it's important to have an understanding of programming logic as a scientist so you can make sure your code works as intended, but in the real world you do whatever you can to get by in order to make your time economical. Talking with people graduating this year about the content of the 3k/4k level classes they focus so much on the science, they lose track of what's practical. Their database(serverside) class parses everything on the server. Useful to know, but that's a lot of wasted cpu when you can ensure fields are getting the correct data type and such on the front end. The worst part is that they wholeheartedly believe they are doing the most optimal job possible because :science:. The idea of me pushing their server's cpu usage up to 100% by spamming max size logins upset them with labels of hacker getting thrown out by the lesser intelegence few.


Personally I like C++, its a lot more flexible in terms of the way I want to use it, the industry uses it. Pointers pointers pointers!
Figured out wtf pointers actually were a couple of weeks ago. Suddenly everything made sense me and it was like another rosetta stone of code went off in my head (last happened when I figured out classes in Actionscript 3). I honestly don't understand why more of academia doesn't start off with cpp. It's much easier to visualize in your head (lol visual language).


In reality it all depends on what project your doing, C++ is the most popular because it suits most projects needs.
Ultimately, it does boil down to this. Cross platform really quickly? Java. Specialized project with very precise control? C++. Lots to do and not much time? .Net.

[DarkHalo003]

Schools glorify Java. I know mine does because ever Computer Science Major I talk to about how I dislike Java acts like I'm insulting their religion.

[nuttyyayap]

That's 'cos Java programmers are a bunch of fucking cultists.

[FreedomFighter7]

I think its really a matter of opinion. Though I've heard what Kornman said is true, many times. No language is good for everything, some are better at one thing than others. I've only use C++ and VB.net. But as with anything, when you ask someone what a "good" something is, you're really asking for their opinion, and that's what you're going to get. Just pick one, and go for it. Now is there a difference between learning curve for different languages? The answer: yes. C++ is a very difficult language to learn, I started with VB.net.

I'm still learning (haven't done it much in years, but I'm picking it up again) C++. C++ is a more advanced version of C, and I'm pretty sure C# (said: C-Sharp) is another version of C++, with a few more updates, if my memory serves me. C++ is very fast, but its very basic. By basic, I mean you have to code most everything yourself. There are libraries out there which add functionality to it, graphics libraries, networking, audio, etc. Also C++ is Object Oriented, and if you don't know what that means, it means everything is grouped in to manageable code sections. That's not to say other languages aren't O.O. VB.net is OO, it renames functions into "methods". Its importan to be aware when reading a new language, of the similarities in features in the language's syntax. Some languages have similar syntax and functionlity, they're just renamed. For example, in Java a C++ derived class would be called a "subclass" in Java, and a C++ base class would be called a "Superclass" in Java.

www.cplusplus.com (http://www.cplusplus.com) is a great website to learn C++! If you ever need help, you can ask on their forums. Take everything with a grain of salt though, because some code can be bad if you don't know what it does or what you're doing. The sticky thread in the beginners forum "how to make your program pause" or something like that is full of trolls. The simplest and easiest way to get your console window to pause is cin >> SomeVariable (at the end of the program). It does not matter what kind of input is made into that variable, the program should end after that.

I've heard Java, or at least Javascript is also really insecure. This is not my opinion, its something I've heard from others.

[Zeph]

Javascript is really horrible. It's bloated, slow, hacky, and very few seem to understand that it's actually different than HTML5. At the recent conferences I've been to, there have been two groups of people in regards to it. The people who think HTML5 will rule the world and Flash is dead and the people who cringe at the thought of putting their code in publicly available form for everyone to mess with. I can tell you that the only games that will successfully make a profit off HTML5 based distribution are ones with central servers that hold all gameplay related data.

Java is really protective of what it allows you to do. It goes as far as to contradict the way it handles classes here and there to keep stupid people from doing stupider things.

[Limited]

I don't mind Javascript. I've been toying around with some HTML5 and JS recently and made a few games and really the biggest complaint is basically the underlying framework of Javascript is not suitable for games - its prototype based and not class based. Yes you can get around this, but its a pain in the ass.

If all browsers adopted Google's V8 we would be in a better place and have some really slick smooth JS, unfortunately that is not the case.

In a related subject, my friend paniced in an interview and accidentally said Java was similiar to Javascript. Lets just say he didn't get the job.

I really only started HTML5 games as an entry point into making stuff for iOS, adopted most of them to work only on iPhone but if you want to have a quick gander at one. Heres a link to my Bomberman (http://limited-development.net/Bomberman2/)one that works in Chrome.

[PlasbianX]

Schools glorify Java. I know mine does because ever Computer Science Major I talk to about how I dislike Java acts like I'm insulting their religion.

My university strictly teaches C++ as they say if you can learn all of C++, you'll be able to self teach yourself any other language easily. However now they just added a web design component to the computer science majors and they're teaching Java in other classes.

[Zeph]

Java or Javascript?

[PlasbianX]

Java or Javascript?

Java, because it's object orientated like C++ which doesnt help too much as I feel javascript would be better for webdesign. Im taking the class next semester though. Any javascript I did do so far, was all done in my free time during my fine digital arts class when I was setting up my portfolio.

[Kornman00]

With Mono (http://www.mono-project.com/Main_Page), picking Java over C#/.NET because it's "cross-platform" is pointless. You can even license MonoTouch for iOS devices.