Advice on what to learn next

[gdp_87]

Firstly, Hello,

The purpose of this post is to get some advice/recommendations from some other developers on what path to pursue next to progress and improve. I am trying to decide what programming language to learn next, and currently im edging towards C++ but considering some dialect of LISP maybe scheme or a JVM language like groovy or scala. I have also thought it may be worth while adding an interpreted language to my toolbelt like perhaps Ruby (python syntax doesnt click with me). My main requirements are that it should run on any OS, in most environments and have a decent amount of documentation/learning material.

What do you think? I know there is no one correct answer but, i think some advice/contributions of some of your past experiences may push me into making a decision.

A bit of info about myself:

I am primarily a .NET Developer therefore very comfortable with the 'Microsoft' way of development and using their stack IE C#, .NET Framework, MSSQL etc... in a web environment mainly, but also played around with WP7 and some small desktop apps. I also can get by in Java (mainly from looking at it at Uni). Bare in mind i have just bought a macbook to force me to purse other technologies/languages (although i still do work development in a windows on a VM).

Many thanks in advance.

[emilo35]

Hello!

I think every programmer should have a good understanding of C/C++ (to fully understand the concept of pointers and freeing memory and stuff). This makes it easier to understand the relationship between object references and object clones and how to efficiently control your garbage collector in higher level languages such as C# or Java.

Personally, I'm happy to have worked with Lisp aswell, since i learned alot about writing efficient algorithms and using recursion from it, so I suggest you give Lisp a try aswell.

Finally, I just want ot mention that altough Visual Basic (vb6) was the first language I ever used, I now find it syntactically horrible. So stay away from that :P

Good luck!

Regards,
Emil Olofsson

[gdp_87]

Finally, I just want ot mention that altough Visual Basic (vb6) was the first language I ever used, I now find it syntactically horrible. So st

Thanks for your reply. Its been a while since i have been on daniweb and glad to get a good response. I totally agree what your saying, i did look at a bit of simple C/C++ at uni but it took a back seat as we concentrated on Java. I think i will go with my instincts and stick with trying to learn C/C++ and maybe a dialect of LISP as ive read plenty about how learning a functional language makes you a better programmer in general.

Thanks!