Visual Basic or Java
 

For college I have the option of taking Visual Basic class or a Java programming class, anny suggestions? I know Java is very usefull theese days, and also I can actually use visual basic with kdevelope to develope nice apps for X. I think Im gonna go vith java, but I would like to hear some comments from you guys.

Java, its fairly cross platform and uses reasonably sensible syntax. Visual Basic ties you to the Microsoft platform and (being based on BASIC) isn't a well designed language.

VB is broken and it's a PITA!

Try out Java and then switch to C++.

You can learn VB and VBScript if you have access to a Win box within 2 weeks, by yourself (assuming you don't have any knowledge, you can start writing some dummy programs...)

HTH,

vfs

I say neither. VB just plain sucks, and Java won't get far in the server world with it's VM backends. I believe in cross-platform code that can be optimized for each platform. Go with C/C++.

Don't even talk about .NET, who needs Internet Explorer in every app they design? That's the whole idea behind .NET, isn't it? Just shove IE everywhere, from PIMs to toasters! :tisk:

Hey man! The options are Java and VB. :D

Needless to say, I don't like Java and quite hate VB, but it's good to know several languages... ;)

Comparing Java and VB, the first is less bad...

vfs

thanks everybody, I'm already taking c++, its just that I also have to take either java or vb for college. I wish they had more Unix-oriented courses, but the only one the offer is intro to unix which Im already taking, and I think this is the last semester they are gonna offer it. I guess this college is still under the Micrbull&# stuff, everything is Windoze based. Im begginig to seriously dislike MS. Thaks for all the posts anyways.

Learn java if cross plaform is more important to you. Java is harder to learn then vb, so I'd have to recommend java even though I do most of my programming in VB. The only thing I hate about java is its too slow, even compared to VB.

You can teach yourself VB that lang is pretty simple, however java a little more difficult. Java is a great language and java jobs pays big bucks. I would have to disagree w/ sewer monkey as far as Java will never make it in the server world. Java already is the main enterprise solution. If you don't believe me take a look on Monster or Dice or HotJobs and type in java. You will see no shortage of jobs there. One other key reason to take Java is because java is Object Oriented and vb is really just a scripting lang.

Without question, Java. I've been developing in Java for about 8 months now and deploy my applications on Solaris servers. The thrill of developing on a Windows 2000 workstation and deploying on a UNIX server without code changes is amazing. It is pretty tough at the start, but stick with it. It is worth it in the long run. ;)

You MUST be kidding. Don't take this to be nasty, but have you actually examined the Java code that was written? Half the problem is that people think they know how to code java, when in fact they just use it as another procedural language.
VB is an absolute dog, and theres not much you can do to help it. :)

nehow, Java would be my recommendation (if you didn't guess), if for no other reason other than you can use whatever box you want to write it on.

Point 1: VB is a marketing toy designed by a big company to make people believe they are programmers in order to convince them to buy a product. Why learn VB when tenth-graders learn VB and call themselves programmers. You wanna compete with that?

Point 2: You could go up on www.realrates.com and look to see what VB is paying versus what Java pays.

Point 3: I saw a book on Artificial Intelligence in Java and hash tables and intelligent agents and I thought it was pretty neat. Funny, I never saw AI using VB.

You decide.

*chuckle*
Must be because natural intelligence doesn't use it either ;)

Cheers,
Tink

JAVA ;)

Sorry to disagree with you guys, but although VB is pretty easy to learn, start programming with API calls etc and it can start to get very complexed.

But anyway, Don't go for VB, specially if your a linux user.

java being too slow is hardly an issue anymore on modern machines...besides, if you're target audience is Linux/UNIX, gcc has a frontend (gcj) which compiles java to native executables (i.e. like c/c++). or, you could use the library developed by cygnus to use java style syntax in c++.

verigoth

Of course learn Java! VB is more or less only a prototyping tool. Nobody writes high performance/distributed applications with VB. VB is not even object-oriented (no inheritance).

Though Java is a little bit slow, if it is compiled to native code, it is almost as good as C++. For a beginner, Java is easier and better to begin with.

After mastering Java, you can always pick up VB easily.