Programming Language Hierarchy

Question

I've been programming web based applications for several years now and have decided to jump into programming windows based applications.

I'm curious if there is some sort of Hierarchy to programming languages?

In other words, which language(s) should one learn before moving into something more complex?

Answer 1

If you are going to write Windows based applications, you need to write in a language that gives you (relatively) easy access to the Windows API.

Your choices are pretty much C#, C++, Java, and Visual Basic. If you decide to go with non-Microsoft C++, you will need a compiler that comes with a a collection of classes for doing all the objects you need to  build you Windows objects.

Answer 2

There are basically high-level and low-level languages.

Low-level languages are machine code and Assembly language. These are the fastest, most powerful languages -- allowing you to do ANYTHING -- but are not very portable.

High-level languages -- like C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, PHP, etc. -- allow you to write portable applications that are easily moved from one environment to another but have various limitations such as speed and access to the hardware.

Then there are script languages which aren't "true" programming languages as they only give you certain aspects of a programming language. JavaScript, for example, is a very good prototyping language but you couldn't use it to build, say, a file-system navigator or operating system.

I would recommend learning a high-level language first since they are usually easier, then move on to Assembly if you're really interested in how the CPU actually processes instructions.

Answer 3

C# is easy, but without know what you've programmed with in the past, I can't say how easy the transition to any language will be