Wanna play with a coding language

[schwim]

Hi there everyone,

I wanted to goof with a coding language, and I have two questions. Before you ask, let me just say that I have no requirements and I have no proposed project. I'm just looking for something to play with.

1) If I want to do something with a GUI(not text based), what would be a good coding language to play with? Do I need to play with two languages(like c++ and visual c) to handle the GUI and backend?

2) Are there any "Hello World" tutorials(like these) that you know of for your suggested language?

Thanks to anyone that might have an opinion.

thanks,
json

[coopstah13]

python! It is my favorite language, elegant and object oriented.

[arinlares]

I like Python and Ruby, even though i have yet to learn enough of either to do anything useful. For making a GUI, you can use Pygame (it ties into SDL), PyOpenGL (uses, you guessed it, Open GL), WxPython, PyGTK, and quite a few others. Ruby also has different tools for making a GUI, but I can't name any off the top of my head.

[techieMoe]

Hi there everyone,

I wanted to goof with a coding language, and I have two questions. Before you ask, let me just say that I have no requirements and I have no proposed project. I'm just looking for something to play with.

1) If I want to do something with a GUI(not text based), what would be a good coding language to play with? Do I need to play with two languages(like c++ and visual c) to handle the GUI and backend?

Actually, Visual C is just Microsoft's version of C using the .NET framework as its graphical library. It's not a separate language per se. You wouldn't be able to use Visual Studio in Linux without some work.

If you're specifically looking for something cross-platform and graphical you might consider Qt, which is what KDE was built on. There's also GTK+, the library behind Pidgin and most GNOME applications.

If however you want to get playing with some quick and easy GUI apps and you don't mind going all-Windows you might consider C#. There's a free version of Visual C# available (Express) that will let you do everything but create an installer. There are some nice "hello, world" type tutorials for that one off the Express site.

You might also consider Java, as it runs on pretty much anything and there are nice compiler suites for all platforms. They won't have as easy a learning curve for the graphical aspects (but there is a graphical library set in Java).

Are you looking for Linux/Windows development or strictly one or the other?

[elija]

If you want cross platform C# try Mono

[clickalot]

great question!

i have a couple of bash scripts and would like to have a simple GUI that passes a few arguments to the scripts.
just something that enables me to click an icon and run the script...

i'm also interested in making something that works in mobile phones, linux and windows because i have a small visual basic program to learn german with flashcards and i would like to port it.
some kind of java?..

[Daniel_B]

Actually, Visual C is just Microsoft's version of C using the .NET framework as its graphical library.

Not precisely correct. Visual C++ is Microsoft's C/++ compiler, much like any other compiler out there. What you are thinking of is C++.net, which is C++ with the .net framework, I do not have extensive experience with C++.net but I am fairly sure that it does not have a visual editor like c# and vb.

Hi there everyone,

I wanted to goof with a coding language, and I have two questions. Before you ask, let me just say that I have no requirements and I have no proposed project. I'm just looking for something to play with.

If you just want to have a little fun, C and C++ are bad ideas. While extremely powerful, they have a steep learning curve and take forever to do anything in. Don't get me wrong, I love C++ and have a lot of fun programming in it, it just took so damn long before I could make anything worthwhile.

1) If I want to do something with a GUI(not text based), what would be a good coding language to play with? Do I need to play with two languages(like c++ and visual c) to handle the GUI and backend?

If you are on windows, Visual Basic is a good language. It is easy, fairly straight forward and will allow you to start right off the bat with GUIs. There is no such thing as Visual C, just Visual C++ which has the ability to compile C. Visual C++ is not a language though, it is one of the IDE/compilers that Microsoft sells. Express (free) versions are available for all of them.

2) Are there any "Hello World" tutorials(like these) that you know of for your suggested language?

There are tutorials for every common language out there.

Visual Basic sounds like the language for you. It is simple and easy for beginners.

[elija]

As a thought how about Gambas. It's a really fun language

[Daniel_B]

i'm also interested in making something that works in mobile phones, linux and windows because i have a small visual basic program to learn german with flashcards and i would like to port it.
some kind of java?..

Windows and Linux is fairly easy because they both have extensive libraries that work with each other. Mobile platforms do not, so it would be a quite a task porting one program to all of these. Mobile platforms often require specific libraries that won't work on other mobile platforms. Something that may work on your BlackBerry will not directly work on your iPhone. You also have your program in Visual Basic, which is not a portable language to start with.

[minthaka]

As a thought how about Gambas. It's a really fun language

Yeah! If you intend to code on Linux, this is the best choice!

PUBLIC SUB _new()
Message("Hello world!")
END