Absolute Beginner's Guide to Programming, Third Edition

Which Language Is Best?

The best programming language depends on the job you need to perform.

If you really want to know which language is the best to learn first, this book has already answered that question. Visual Basic is the best all-purpose Windows language for beginning programmers. The next chapter begins to develop your Visual Basic programming skills. Those who master an introductory language often move on to C++ and online programming environments of languages such as Java.

The languages you know often determine the language in which you program. If you are working on a rush project (as most data processing projects are), you won't have time to master a new language, so if C++ is all you know at the time, that is the language you will ...