n/a wrote:
>  hi, newbie so please be tolerant.... ;)
>  
>  i need to start to learn a programming language to be able to develop
>  custom aps to be applied to a variety of purposes but mainly 1) 
>  financial
>  data modeling--including graphics and data handling via database 
>  queries,
>  etc.; and 2) more general business-type aps.
>  
>  my feeling is that i hate BLOATED sluggish programs (like some Java
>  program running on older JVM's and perhaps not written in an optimal
>  way....u get the idea.)
>  
>  if i need to make a choice between fancy and efficient,
>  speed, etc., then it's an easy choice 4 me of efficient.
>  which is why i have just started w/ c++.

  And that would be the best choice. If you want efficiency you should 
definitely use C++/Visual C++. If you ask me, it's the best programming 
language around, when you want efficiency, power with a resonable amount 
of work when writing code.
  However, Java would more suited when you want to make things fast and 
not care very much about efficiency. For example, if you like to split 
up a mail address like daniel.schausser@[...].com and you want to do it 
fast, you have to allocate buffers, use strtok and so on and so forth. 
With java, that's piece of cake

>  
>  however, speaking to one my programmer friends who is a top level Java
>  programmer (the stuff he writes is very efficient and fancy as
>  well--great balance), he is telling me that 1) c++ is being phased out
>  (except 4 real low level stuff like drivers, etc.) in favor of languages
>  such as Java or Ruby. he recommends i switch from learning c++ to 
>  learning
>  Java or Ruby. i wd hope to be able to choose the best path and not have 
>  to
>  switch tack in the middle as my IT capablity is not a full time 
>  activity,
>  but more of a support 4 my main one--finance.
>  
>  of course, learning curve is to be taken into consideration as well....
>  
>  'd love some comments that might help me consider my options and pick a
>  path (c++, java or ruby) w/ a higher level of confidence..... i know 
>  that
>  people here will be biased towards Ruby, but that is fine: i want to 
>  hear
>  about it....



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