As most of you here know, I am a newbie. Now I want to focus on Database Apps Development (.Net). So if I have to learn the fundamentals, what path should I take, VB or C# ? I need your opinions.

for most apps pareho lang yang dalawa. in fact most of the time you can translate code between VB.NET and C# line per line!

siguro learn VB.NET if you are very comfortable with VB6. similarly, take C# if you are very comfortable with C++ or Java.

pero sa iba gaya ni Ayende (maker of Rhino Mocks), para sa kanila none of the above -- "Boo" daw dapat ang primary .NET language of choice. he he

http://www.ayende.com/Blog/archive/2007/12/18/What-makes-Boo-a-great-language.aspx

http://boo.codehaus.org

Boo is based on Python syntax, by the way.

marl:

As most of you here know, I am a newbie. Now I want to focus on Database Apps Development (.Net). So if I have to learn the fundamentals, what path should I take, VB or C# ? I need your opinions.

Both language has similar features and support OOP.. what is suggest is start with understanding OOP first then choose the language... VB.NET is a great language to start because its easy to learn and whatever you learn from VB.NET you can directly apply to C#.

keithrull:

... start with understanding OOP first then choose the language...

Ano bang beginner's OOP book ang maganda basahin? Meron bang "OOP For Mere Mortals"? hehehe 

I am biased towards C# ..

Try mo ung mga books ni cay horstmann. Magaling syang mg explain and ung mga exercises sa mga books nya, kala mo cannot be applied in real life professional programming pero I found out otherwise, ehehe.

http://horstmann.com/ 

boybawang:

I am biased towards C# ..

Try mo ung mga books ni cay horstmann. Magaling syang mg explain and ung mga exercises sa mga books nya, kala mo cannot be applied in real life professional programming pero I found out otherwise, ehehe.

http://horstmann.com/ 

Hehehe. I'm a C# 'er din but i just saw an article a few days back that said VB.NET is easier to learn than C# and that curly brackets tend to scare wanna be developers from coding because it looks intimidating specially to those new to development.

I don't see the need to choose. I prefer C#'s low verbosity, but I admire VB's readability.

In fact, what I think people should do is learn both languages anyway. Once you're familiar with the fundamentals of .NET switching from one to the other is non-issue. 

keithrull:

...and that curly brackets tend to scare wanna be developers from coding...

I can relate to that. Sa C++ class namin maraming nalilito sa curly braces lalo n pag ang topic mga nested loops. 

Wow, great topic guys! Maganda siguro list nyo yung cons and pros for the 2 languages, medyo interesado rin kong makita kung ano man itong mga ito... gusto ko ring matuto nung OOP na yan. :D 

marl:

I can relate to that. Sa C++ class namin maraming nalilito sa curly braces lalo n pag ang topic mga nested loops. 

Go for C#, since C++ naman pala ang background mo. Once you learn C#, it's not hard to learn VB.NET syntax lang ang difference. 

sabi nila, pag marunong ka ng c++, eh madali nalang ang java..pag madali na sayo ang java..parang nag aral ka na rin daw ng c#..tutoo ba yun?..

sa ngayon ako, sa java ako nag coconcentrate.

modchip:

Wow, great topic guys! Maganda siguro list nyo yung cons and pros for the 2 languages, medyo interesado rin kong makita kung ano man itong mga ito... gusto ko ring matuto nung OOP na yan. :D 

C# can write unsafe code... like what you always do, modchip. ;-)

to be brutally frank I see no reason for VB.NET to exist, except to prevent the VB6 devs from shifting to Java during the early 21st century. what can VB.NET do that C# cannot? .NET devs the world over are much better off using C# than VB.NET.

although meron na rin yata dinagdag sa VB.NET na VB-only features kumpara sa C#...pumasok ba sa Visual Studio 2008 ito?

to me its syntax is painfully verbose. sabagay in some ways C# has also become verbose, compared to cool languages like Smalltalk and Ruby.

 So basically the majority is telling me to shoot for the C# . Now I need to find my starting point. Read books, watch video and webcast, exercises, etc. Ok ba magsimula sa console apps, like what we had in our C++ class? Siguro mas ok yung sinasabi ni Keith to start with a guestbook app. Then I'll build upon it as I progress. Any sample? Salamat.

Orange:

modchip:

Wow, great topic guys! Maganda siguro list nyo yung cons and pros for the 2 languages, medyo interesado rin kong makita kung ano man itong mga ito... gusto ko ring matuto nung OOP na yan. :D 

C# can write unsafe code... like what you always do, modchip. ;-)

Wow, that is cool. :D Ang bilis mo namang nagsign-out orange, di pa kita nabati ng advance merry x'mas. :D