language to learn

[wookie]

Hi all,

In a bid to bolster some career options I want to learn a new language where I can develop standalone applications to run on linux and preferably with the ability to develop nice UIs.

Any recommendations on where to start? Only really used PHP at a commercial level and never really delved into this area before.

If some tuts and suggestions on some learning/trial+error style scripts/apps would be great.

Thanks

Wookie

[vezzy]

Python with the built-in Tkinter library should be enough.

[EMP_453]

Python would be a good place to start, However if you got time and u dedicated, I would recommend C++ with Qt. Its really powerful and Qt is great. This would seriously bolster your carrier options + if u can get a good grasp at c++, u can grasp almost anything. Just depends on where u want to go.

You can take a look:
(c++ Primer-pdf)
http://it-ebooks.info/book/1256/

Developing UI's with QT:
http://qt.digia.com/

[Alin]

First I would start out by learning basics of data structures and algorithms - you can easily do this in a higher level language like php or python.

Cormen's book is pretty much the bible on this matter:
http://www.amazon.com/Introduction-Algorithms-Thomas-H-Cormen/dp/0262033844/

One of the big problems with new learners in computer science is that they want to see results quick and what is most the visual result? Well yeah, a GUI. Nobody cares for cli tools that calculates max flows, but they should!

You can make a pretty gui but that does not matter if your base is crap and does nothing interesting. GUI is/should be up to designers, you just make it look like what they want.