should i learn it first ?

[phil hunt]

On Sat, 09 Mar 2002 11:44:45 GMT, Qiang.JL <dragon at china.org> wrote:
>Hi,all
>
>apologize if this is off-topic :)
>
>I am a student who have learned perl,java and other like data structure
>stuff. Now i want to take some further step to learn one or two languages to
>improve my language view. There are two languages are on the list: python
>and C++
>I have heard a lot ppl talk about C/C++,saying it's the must language to
>learn for a programmer.

Firstly, C and C++ are separate languages. C++ is mostly a superset 
of C. Both languages are popular and widely used.

Some people would argue that you can't be a "real programmer" unless 
you know C++. I personally would consider someone who knows several 
langs including C++ to be much more of a programmer than someone who 
just knows how to write simple screens in VB with a little 
behind-the-scenes code.

As to what you should learn *next*, I'd guess it depends on what 
sort of programs you are expecting to write in the near future. C 
and C++ are used mostly for similar sorts of things; Python for 
other sorts of things.

>and i indeed feel so. but C/C++ is hard and may need
>to take longer time to learn and get the concept.also, Python seems a good
>language and easier to learn.

It certainly is.

>I think some of you may come cross this, so let me ask you these questions
>
>do i need to learn C/C++ to be a good programmer?

That depends entirely on what you mean by "good programmer".

>which one is better to start with ? ( I'm not a program beginner so python
>being a beginner programmer maybe not be applied here)

You could do it either way... personally I'd go for Python first.

>How many language do you think one should _master_? 

If you want to be as good at programming as you can be, then as many 
as possible. You should certainly have written a significant amount 
of code in at least 10.

-- 
<"><"><"> Philip Hunt <philh at comuno.freeserve.co.uk> <"><"><">
"I would guess that he really believes whatever is politically 
advantageous for him to believe." 
                        -- Alison Brooks, referring to Michael
                              Portillo, on soc.history.what-if