Where to get started

G-Money

I've posted a couple of threads on this forum about getting to grips with certain technologies but to be honest, I'm not really sure which one to go for.

My background is that I already work in software and part of my job involves Perl scripting work, however this is not the main part of my job.

I am thinking about getting more into the development side of things but I basically can't decide between the Java side or the C#/.Net side. I have to admit that my knowledge of programming concepts is almost non-existent. I've a vague idea of what classes and objects and inheritance all are, but even then, I couldn't really give you a concrete and believable answer that would prove that I had a thourough understanding of any of it.

I have a little C# experience but mostly from messing around on my own and most likely doing things incorrectly, but it wouldn't be much beyond hobbyist level. I'm also thinking about possibly getting certified at some point down the line, but that's only if I felt it was something I wanted to pursue longer term.

So would I be better starting afresh with Java or trying to start over with C# and .Net. I'd probably have a leaning towards C# and .Net just because that's what I'm a little familiar with, but perhaps I should forget that.

Thoughts?

Thanks.

stevenmu

In terms of a language to begin learning, there's not a lot to choose between them. From an academic 'learning to program' point of view they're both very similar in terms of what they do. There's plenty of good learning resources available for both. There's also good certification available for both and chances of jobs are pretty even between them as well.

So to decide between them you need to look more at the periphery. Java's big advantage is it's cross-platform compatability, it runs on windows, linux, Mac OS, and in various forms on lots of mobiles. C#'s big advantages are it's integration with Microsoft software, most of Microsoft's products can be be extended or enhanced with C#, and of course Visual Studio which is almost unanimously accepted as the best development environment.

It can be hard to know when starting out exactly what type of projects and development you want to get involved in, but if you do have some idea that'll help guide what language(s) you should pick to work with.

G-Money

Thanks for that.

Anyone know some good online C# guides? I really liked the new Boston java videos and a C# equivalent would be nice.

I tried following the MVC tutorial on the Microsoft site but I felt like it was going in circles and not really explaining things very well. Plus the first few examples all seemed to do the same thing and it wasn't very interesting either.