Thread: Wanting to learn some programming, help me pick a language!

Originally Posted by brady

Alright maybe I phrased that the wrong way. What I meant was that Java isn't as efficient with large applications. I realize that it you can do just about anything with it (also very nice because of portability), but when it comes to large scale applications it just isn't as efficient as C++. Yes indeed, Java does its own garbage collection.

=) Well. I'm not sure I agree, but whatever. In my experience, many things are difficult to implement in Java (try enumerating the PCI devices installed in a computer). But Java's capacity to handle large, complex systems with efficiency is excellent. Recent developments with the Hotspot JVM means that Java code can often achieve runtime speeds close to C++ or other natively compiled languages. Eitherway, I wouldn't bother trying to implement a car PC in java. It just doesn't make any sense.

go for .NET (VB.NET or C# is up to you), VB.NET is litle easyer to start with. Note that .NET is a "modern" langue and very powerful. Here is a great resurce with code examples: http://www.codeproject.com/

Isn't .NET more of an architecture? The language(s) are, like you said, C# and VB.NET. You can also do .NET with managed C++. There's some very nice things about .NET, but my main problem with it is that it's compleatly unportable. Though maybe Mono will change that some. One of the nice things about C/C++ is that there are compilers for freakin' everything.

I have seen linux compiler for .NET, can't remember the url rigth now.

Originally Posted by Jeep

I have seen linux compiler for .NET, can't remember the url rigth now.

You're probably thinking of Mono.

Originally Posted by akw

=) Well. I'm not sure I agree, but whatever. In my experience, many things are difficult to implement in Java (try enumerating the PCI devices installed in a computer). But Java's capacity to handle large, complex systems with efficiency is excellent. Recent developments with the Hotspot JVM means that Java code can often achieve runtime speeds close to C++ or other natively compiled languages. Eitherway, I wouldn't bother trying to implement a car PC in java. It just doesn't make any sense.

java is excellent for just about everything other than talking directly to hardware (i.e. your example of talking to the pci bus- but even that's w/ a caveat- it's excellent for talking to serial devices, etc), and you end up using a native interface for that, so i wouldn't say it's any harder or easier than other languages; the interface is easy to implement, and the actual talking to hardware is as simple or as hard as the other language you're using.

anyways, i'm not sure that java is a particularly bad choice for a carpc. i've been beating around the idea of starting a program in carpc project in java for the following reasons:
1- the excellent java-quicktime interface (http://developer.apple.com/quicktime/qtjava/) allows you to easily integrate quicktime functionality into your program; this allows you to easily implement audio and video with one set of api's. also allows support of a wide range of formats.
2- it's pretty easy to talk to the serial and usb ports, so interfacing directly with external hardware is pretty easy (i.e. fm receivers, etc).
3- it's easy to interface w/ other languages if necessary
4- perhaps the most important, if i do start on this, the source will be available freely, and it's very easy to write maintanable code in java.

Originally Posted by edscholl

java is excellent for just about everything other than talking directly to hardware (i.e. your example of talking to the pci bus- but even that's w/ a caveat- it's excellent for talking to serial devices, etc), and you end up using a native interface for that, so i wouldn't say it's any harder or easier than other languages; the interface is easy to implement, and the actual talking to hardware is as simple or as hard as the other language you're using.

anyways, i'm not sure that java is a particularly bad choice for a carpc. i've been beating around the idea of starting a program in carpc project in java for the following reasons:
1- the excellent java-quicktime interface (http://developer.apple.com/quicktime/qtjava/) allows you to easily integrate quicktime functionality into your program; this allows you to easily implement audio and video with one set of api's. also allows support of a wide range of formats.
2- it's pretty easy to talk to the serial and usb ports, so interfacing directly with external hardware is pretty easy (i.e. fm receivers, etc).
3- it's easy to interface w/ other languages if necessary
4- perhaps the most important, if i do start on this, the source will be available freely, and it's very easy to write maintanable code in java.

I've thought seriously about using Java as well. The problem is that there a good number of GPS mapping components for use in Microsoft's world that just aren't available for Java. And while there many more open-sourced projects that are written in Java, I just can't get past the GPS part.

Have you found any vector-based GPS components that are freely available to Java developers?