[JBotAlan]

I have been programming in Visual Basic for quite some time now, and I want to grow up.

I want to write apps that can be ported easily into Linux/Mac/etc. and not need proprietary software to do so.

I want to be able to design an interface beyond the console, and this needs to be platform-independent also.

I want to learn a *real* language.

I think C++ is the way to go, but I am not sure and would like your opinion.

Thanks
JBot

[Chicon]

Hi JBotAlan,

You're right C++ is a good language but not as portable as Java.
Java applications may run on Windows, Linux, MacOs and Solaris without to adapt the coding according to their host OS. C++ applications are good but they must be adapted to their environment as the language is more close to the system than Java.
The syntaxes of C++ and Java are similar.

[JBotAlan]

I forgot about Java. I had a few people tell me that it was a good language, and a bunch of others tell me that it was not the way to go. It seems like a matter of preference. However, I have noticed that Java is ridiculously resource-intensive. I was going to use it on my other machine a few years ago, but the *cough*256MB of ram proved just a bit...crippling, to say the least.

Now that I have my new lappy, I'll try Java again.

Thanks,
JBot

[Chicon]

Originally Posted by JBotAlan

... However, I have noticed that Java is ridiculously resource-intensive. I was going to use it on my other machine a few years ago, but the *cough*256MB of ram proved just a bit...crippling, to say the least.

Many improvements have been brought to Java since. Also, the way of using Java objects is important.
Examples :
- forget to use buffered streams when you're manipulating files then your CPU will be pumped
- create new intances of a large class for each iterations in a big loop then your application is jumping fast out of memory.
There's a French proverb that says ' A mauvais ouvrier, mauvais outil ' which means 'when the craftman is bad, his tools are bad too'.