Best Language

[Loedown]

Greetings,
I am in a bit of a quandary, I need to learn a new programming language, but don't know which one to really go after.

I already have skill with 6502 Assembler, PIC ( Microchip ), and BASIC

I had a good look at C / C++ and find that to be so damned complicated it's already pointless, too much syntax to remember. So what I need is a good solid language that gives good control to peripherals and internals of machines, can access and run in the Windows environment, is fast and powerful, possibly has a Miggy port?

I ask much, I know, but from what I have seen here, Amiga fans are diehard, but also mostly quality programmers.

Paul

[Anding]

Loedown,

Asking for the best programming language is a bit like asking which religious sect should you join.

If you're making a living from IT development then you'd better let the market tell you. If you're doing it for a hobby then you probably care about the (a) satisfaction of developing your skills and (b) a good return on your free time invested. With these in mind I would suggest, in order of preference:

Windows:
C#
(Very powerful, modern, and versitile language. Visual Studio Express is an excellent IDE and can be downloaded for free from Microsoft. For a book, I like the Wrox series. Tonnes of free help and example code on the internet too.)

Amiga:
BlitzBasic 2
(now rather old but you can find all the resources you need for free on the internet, including a good manual. Definately the fastest way to "get stuff up on the screen" in the Amiga)

C
("Kernighan and Ritchie" is the only book you need and with that, it's easy)

68k assembler
(but hard to find good secondhand books these days)

Avoid completely:
C++
(like you say huge time wasted on anal syntax)

[Toni Wilen]

Plain C if you only want single language that can be used both Amiga and Windows programming. (but I'd would not recommend it for Windows programming today..)

[Photon]

If the wish is simply to 'learn a new programming language' and have fun, try Python. Excellent and almost impossible to screw up, since the whole language is like a big 'test-bench' for ideas.

If you want to make something for Windows and don't like c/c++, try Delphi 7.2+Direct X headers. It's a lovely IDE and very fast to try out things.

If you're asking for making Amiga stuff, if you already know 6502 Assembler, why not try Amiga Assembler? Quite a few scanned books are available and lots of examples.

I know a lot of guys that have gone from 6502 to ARM. It's very nice to code in, and also it has the beatiful ARM Basic, where you can also mix inline Assembler.