Ok, first a little background.

I have programmed in the following languages, starting from first to most recent:

BASIC
HTML
Javascript
PHP

Now I am in search of a real language to learn. Im kinda stuck between c, C++ and java. Which one would you reccomend, and what book/sites would you reccomend for tutorials.

C++..... here's a link for install:
http://rpmseek.com/rpm-pl/gcc-c\\.ht...%5C:PN:0:0:0:0
here's a link for tutorial:
http://www.cplusplus.com/doc/tutorial/

if u like system program, i tend to give C a "GO", if u like application design , then C++, if u want platform independence, then JAVA

C has syntax very similar to PHP (I tried it the other way, C->PHP, but it should be also visible starting from PHP), so C/C++ should be a good idea.

I would have to agree with vinay_s_s.
Because it really depends on what your going to be doing.

>> Which Language?

> it really depends on what your going to be doing.

Yup. Many folks ask the "which language" question around here. Note to future readers of this thread: the more specific you can be about exactly what you want to do (system programming? graphics? sysadmin scripting? GUI apps? network-aware game? etc.) and why you want to do it, the better an answer you'll get. :)

Well, basically I'm looking to do some applications and GUI apps. I'm still only in the 11th grade, but I would like to get a programming language under my belt before I head off to university.

After reading these responces and reading the C++ tutorial posted, I think I may go more in depth with C++. It seems to be able to do what I want to do with it. To tell you the truth, before today I never really knew that certain languages were used for different things.

I think I may also take a look at C. From what I understand I would be able to do some driver development with it.

Anyway, thanks for the reccomendations.

> Well, basically I'm looking to do some applications and GUI apps.

Since you're interested in using C++ for this, have a look at the TOAD GUI toolkit:
http://www.mark13.org/toad/

It's loaded with good design, and correct use of C++.

java is good for learning even if you are not going to be sticking with it, I am taking java, C++, and C# simeltaniously at my college, java is the easyest to learn, it has enough real programming in it to teach you and get you thinking right, then there is a lot you can do with it, C++ has a wider spectum of uses, it is a little faster, and you can find a lot of kits or other things to utilize, such as gnome kde or the windows api. but it is not an easy first language, there is a lot of oddities and querks to figure out (I may be shot for saying that) with languages liek java or c# they made things really hady.

exodist, happy birthday

Thank you. yep, 21 tomarrow (My time) I can now legally drink.. in a few hours anyway... but of cource I do not really care, alcahole never interested me. I do not like things that effect my brain.. one exception being women :-D

Python as it's a better language than C, C++, and Java for a large portion of applications you would write. Which isn't to say that they don't each have their strengths, it's just that Python is generally a better solution for most problems.

i agree with exodist, c++ is a great language to know but java is definitely easier to learn, and as a plus it's much easier to learn c++ once you know java (this goes the other way round as well though). some other reasons i would go java:

1. there's a much greater scope of things that you can do easily, with web programming being the big winner here.
2. while you learn, writing the fastest program ever is not the main concern
3. for your specific case, us colleges are now starting to require a java test as an admission requirement (saw this on slashdot yesterday)

you should download the official sun java tutorial and subscribe to the newsletters. as far as books go, sun's 'core java' series is pretty good. the best thing you can possibly have though are the api docs that is downloaded seperate from the sdk, always have these available while coding.

enjoy!

I recommend C++ without questions:

C -------------Too OLD
java-------------------not suitable for desktop development, and easier to learn if C++ is known before

But If you really want to learn a language of the future, then go for C#, I know it's a M$ language, but check this out:
http://www.go-mono.org
I will be a important language for linux in future

I'd say java is a good place to start learning. It is extremely well documented (some of the best documentation i have seen) on the sun website, and you can learn Object Oriented techniques (which you can with C++ too obviously) and other general programming things, then you can move on to do whichever language you want.