Thread: Question about programming.

So, next semester of college I have to take a programming class. The class is designated with the number 160. The problem is that there's two different ones under that number. C++ and Java. My question is which one should I take first? I want to take both, but I don't know which one I should go for first.

C++. Java isn't used very much any more.

C++

Java is good too but you will have a better foundation with C++ I'd recommend like you said...Take both, but C++ first.

java is fully object oriented, it does memory management and trash cleanup automatically. Its good for games and applications inside of an OS or web browser. C++ is much more robust, it is used to create actual operating systems. You have to control more things like memory allocation and trash cleanup and such yourself so its much more complex. The university I went to taught java first then C/C++ then C#. Their approach is that people have a really hard time understanding encapsulation and object oriented programming in java once they have "been outside the box" in C.....so they teach java first and then once you understand the limitations of java they introduce the broad expanse that is C. Mind you, you will age a few years and get many gray hair learning C...just fair warning. C# is a combination, its robust like C but has automatic functions like trash cleanup and memory management. Its the object orientated version of C. Enjoy!


As a side note, if you are interested in doing any cloud development in the future (ie salesforce) Java is used there, well their version of it but it translates pretty closely.

Neither one are very good...

Java:
pros - easy to learn. good starter language.
cons - shitty runtime with more workarounds than should be in a "mature" language. sandbox vm means it's going to run slower than native code.

C++:
pros - universal (no matter what platform you'll likely have a compiler for it). huge amounts of documentation.
cons - can be cryptic. not as prevalent as it once was.

Both aren't all that great for getting jobs. Most people want C#, web crap like php/perl/js...

In school I started with c++ then a little java (was more expected to teach myself). I bet it is probably easier to learn java first then move to learning c++


Also, where does everyone keep not seeing java development jobs, it seemed that most jobs I saw when hunting were for java developers...

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Originally Posted by ab1tar

In school I started with c++ then a little java (was more expected to teach myself). I bet it is probably easier to learn java first then move to learning c++


Also, where does everyone keep not seeing java development jobs, it seemed that most jobs I saw when hunting were for java developers...

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I too wonder this. A majority of all software engineering openings I've seen the last few years have been Java and .NET. Java is still very prevalent in network architecture. PHP, JS, and .NET are huge too, don't get me wrong, but Java still has its place.

My recommendation for the class comes down to what type of learner you are.

In doing Java first, you can learn the basics fairly quickly while having the more difficult concepts handled for you behind the scenes. In doing C++ first, you're getting dropped in the deep end with the whole shabang. It takes a little more to get up to speed. Even more so than just being OO vs OO/Procedural, I'd say the bigger difference is that java is mostly an interpreted language whereas C++ is a fully compiled language. While the vast majority of any software engineering positions will most likely require the use of some IDE like Visual Studio, Eclipse, or whatever - knowing how to compile source code from the command line is something that is good to know.

When I enrolled in the EECS program I'm about to graduate from, the department was in the middle of a very large shift in their approach to teaching the students and I kind of got mish-mashed all over. Several years ago they introduced the students to programming with something like HTML -> Java - > C++ then the more abstract languages in the later courses like Lisp, Perl, etc. and now they have moved to first couple of classes being entirely in Python, then moving to Java for Data Structures and networks, then doing a ton of stuff in C for the higher level courses.

The order I learned things went something like MATLAB - > C++ -> Java -> C -> Verilog/VHDL -> Embedded C -> Python -> HTML/JS/CSS/PHP -> C#. I was kind of all over the place and even though I didn't really follow the order I think the professors intended me to, I don't feel like I'm any worse of a programmer for it. Those first few classes where you are kind of getting your feet wet and learning the basic concepts might seem like a shock when you switch to a new language, but after a little bit - once you get how things work, the language is just a means to an end and you can pick it up quickly. I don't think it would make too much of a difference which one you decide to do first, since you sound like you will be taking them back to back anyways. I'd probably recommend Java first just since it's a bit easier to pick up.

Thanks for the advice guys.

People seem to say Java is easier, so I guess I'll start with that.

Here the thing with programming languages. They're literally languages like Spanish and Japanese. If you're going to visit Spain you're not going to want to learn Japanese.

If you have to take both then it doesn't really matter which you take first. But if you don't need to take both figure out what kind of programming you want to do in "real life" and figure out which of the languages is more applicable.