On 2006-11-18, n/a <na / nomail.invalid> wrote:
> hi, newbie so please be tolerant.... ;)
>
> i need to start to learn a programming language to be able to develop
> custom aps to be applied to a variety of purposes but mainly 1) financial
> data modeling--including graphics and data handling via database queries,
> etc.; and 2) more general business-type aps.
>
> my feeling is that i hate BLOATED sluggish programs (like some Java
> program running on older JVM's and perhaps not written in an optimal
> way....u get the idea.)
>
> if i need to make a choice between fancy and efficient,
> speed, etc., then it's an easy choice 4 me of efficient.
> which is why i have just started w/ c++.

If you're not too attached to the mainstream, Eiffel could be another
choice - efficient (statically compiled, like C++), but higher-level
than C++; has GC but is better designed than Java, as far as the language
itself.  Designed to facilitate writing correct programs.  If this
interests you, do a bit of googling/research to learn about its
advantages and disadvantages and see if it's worth pursuing further.
(There are two GNU-licensed Eiffel compilers available:
http://eiffelzone.com/esd/studio/index.html
http://smarteiffel.loria.fr/
.)

Regarding Ruby, it's much closer to being justifiably called a pure OO
language than Java is; part of the result of that is that its design is
simpler and better.  In many cases, you don't want to make a choice
between high-level and efficient - you want both; and you do that by
using two or more languages.  Ruby is a contender for being your best
choice for your "dynamic scripting" language.  (Perl has an advantage if
you need its larger available collection of libraries and components,
but this will shrink as Ruby is used more.)

>
> however, speaking to one my programmer friends who is a top level Java
> programmer (the stuff he writes is very efficient and fancy as
> well--great balance), he is telling me that 1) c++ is being phased out
> (except 4 real low level stuff like drivers, etc.) in favor of languages
> such as Java or Ruby. he recommends i switch from learning c++ to learning
> Java or Ruby. i wd hope to be able to choose the best path and not have to
> switch tack in the middle as my IT capablity is not a full time activity,
> but more of a support 4 my main one--finance.
>
> of course, learning curve is to be taken into consideration as well....
>
> 'd love some comments that might help me consider my options and pick a
> path (c++, java or ruby) w/ a higher level of confidence..... i know that
> people here will be biased towards Ruby, but that is fine: i want to hear
> about it....


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