Best programming language?

I am planning to start learning a programming language. However, I was wondering what is the best language to learn. I don't have any experience in programming, so I need some feedback.

One more thing

There was this interesting skill called meat hook in a game called DOTA.
This skill launches a projectile which deals 400 damage to the first unit that it meets in 1000 range and pulls the unit back to the caster.

Can anyone show me how to do it?

The main purpose of this thread seems to be finding out which programming language to learn, so it fits better in the Programming forum - Please take more care of which forum you post in in the future. Moved.

If you want help with the skill, ask for it in a seperate thread, please.

I've only tried learning JavaScript first soo... I don't really know how it is to learn other languages first, but Delphi and Visual Basic seams nice.

The best one to learn would be Visual C#. As for the meat hook, it's simple once you break it down. You first have to have dummy unit that the chain will be made of. Then, every say 0.1 secs create a dummy unit some +50 (from the last dummy) distance towards the given angle and check to see if any units are near it. If they are you simply slide the unit back while removing the previous dummies. If not, simply continue the loop untill it excedes range or finds a target.

What do you want to focus at?

For simple pleasure, you could try something like Pascal.

For business development (and even game editors, like an mpq manager),, try a high level language, like CSharp, Delphi and even Visual Basic.

For game development, you could try the above mentioned, however, something that will be of large scale (interms of management), raw C, templated C++ and (somewhat) Java.

For understanding the computer innards, and uber high performace programs, any assembler language, though you may want on x86 assembler, as that's what your PC runs on.

The most important part is: LEARN THE FUNDAMENTS BEHIND EACH LANGUAGE, whenever you switch between languags, try to recreate what you ahve already learned in others, and understand the strenghtness and weaknesses of each of them.

Pseudo-code, followed by either Visual Basic, C# or Java (Java freaks me out).

It largely depends on what you want to apply yourself to.

Bleh, for that matter, you'd better be learning a scripting language, likme I did with javascript (lots of fun back then).


I prefer Whitespace

pseudocode, Delphi a.k.a pascal is actually based on pseudocode and you would notice it really looks like it.

Best programming language?

There is no such a thing as the best programming language. But there are programming languages that are better for specific tasks.

For example you use script languages like python or Visual Basic to learn although Delphi and C# are really good learning choices as well.

C/C++ are your choice for apps that require good performance.

LISP - PROLOG fall in logic and AI stuff.

And so and so , each language has a purpose. Your objective selects the language not you.

If you like learning try ruby, it has all of python's advantages , and even some other. Without the abomination that python's syntax is .

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I hate JAVA. I look at it as that language that is bad for everything but for some reason people (and my college unfortunally) use it. Really it is the mediocre language.

- Mediocre Interface API
- Mediocre performance
- Mediocre console input API
- Mediocre design.

Darn I hate JAVA

LUA is the future!

By pseudocode I was refering to flow diagrams and rudimentary non-compilable implementations of pascal (or *gasp* Fortran).


While I agree ruby is more robust than python, i tend to dispise ruby's syntax much more than python's. But that might be I am way too used to c-style syntax (blame php and js).


Java got popular by its 'automatic' cross compatibility (ie, one compiled binary works everywhere), c-style syntax, "safe" "pointers", garbage collector, and applet support.

I am not sure you can associate the VM performance with the language's performance, tho.

depending on indentation makes python's syntax an abomination

If you say so...

Lua would be all right if it wasn't for weird things like ~= instead of !=, ~ is too hard to find in spanish keyboards and ~= looks like a symbol that in math means "close to " or something like that as opposed to not equal to .

I wouldn't mind python for depending on indent but things must have a beginning and an end. That's against the first programming law . what were those guys thinking?

And that was good until .net came out , now there is no reason at all to use JAVA people should just trash it for good.

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Flow charts and pseudo code are nothing alike. Also I didn't say that Delphi was pseudo-code.


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It would be good if we could have soemthing like javascript or php for scripting languages instead of being forced to choose between ruby and python. I like C like syntax and I think it is way more efficient than the other over verbose ones.


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There are 2 languages I did not try myself but sounded promising. One is arena scripting language which is exactly C and C library only that with a garbage collector the other one compiles to binary and is somehow like delphi but won't let you compile anything that could result in a pitfall and that is good for learning. Can't remember its name.

btw:
http://www.awaretek.com/atesterea.html (Which Programming Language is right for you?)