Considering taking up Snake Wrangling.

[Count_Zero99uk]

I have some knowledge of programming however i have found that C++ is too odd in its code to properly get my head around

I have been told that Python has a more user freindly sytax.

Could anyone recomend any books or sites and also a good freewear compiler for Python.

Thanks
Zero

 

[pinkaardvark]

If you want a job as a programmer then C# is a better bet. Much friendlier than C++, though you may may find VB.NET even better and then move back to c# once you understand the framework fully.

 

[akakjs]

If you want a job as a programmer then C# is a better bet. Much friendlier than C++, though you may may find VB.NET even better and then move back to c# once you understand the framework fully.

to be honest pick either C# or VB.NET and stick with it, the syntax of a language is the easy bit, why waste time learning two syntaxes for almost the same functionality? (btw c# is by far the more complete .NET language, so i'd pick c# over vb.net myself) Both languages are more accessable that C++, and almost as powerful. I'd also give C++.NET (or manged C++) a go, the function libraries have much more sensable names which makes the code much easier to read.

As for python some people like it's syntax, but personally I hate languages that require code to be layed out in a particular way for them to work. Having said I understand it's very good for string mulipiation, and it's taking off as a website language.

It all depends on what you want to program

akakjs

ps http://www.python.org/download/ for python stuff..

 

[Shoseki]

I can highly recommend

http://www.diveintopython.org/

 

[JIMA]

Hi,

ActiveState do a good Perl package and I guess their Python one should follow along the same lines. It's free too as far as I know.

You might also want to have a look at Perl and Ruby. I found Perl to be very good and the same code (with a few exceptions such as fork, threads) will work on a number of different platforms e.g Unix/Windows etc. I'm just learning Ruby and whilst the syntax looks a bit odd it is actually pretty intuitive once you get going.

Perl is very good for string manipulation and is pretty easy to learn the basics of. Ruby looks along the same lines and in conjunction with the Rails framework seems set to take off too from a web-design point of view. I'm looking at this as an alternative view to a Java/Struts combination.

There are big differences between a language like C# and others like Perl/Ruby which make both well worth learning for different reasons.

Personally, I'd find C# would be preferable for writing a Windows app with a GUI (unless you want a go at Perl/Tk) whilst Perl would be better for writing code that runs on Unix or needs to be portable across platforms. The loose typing of Perl/Ruby also lends itself to different programming styles, sometimes making things easier, and other times not.

IMHO it's well worth learning both. Hope that's useful.

Jim