I used to know some programming but its been a while since I've done anything. I'm just looking for a language that has an easy learning curve that would allow me to do some fun web-based stuff. I'm not looking to do anything major, I just want to learn a quick language that has the potential for a lot of fun possibilities. Any ideas?

There is no such thing as a "quick language" - you are looking for the impossible!!

Why not take up base jumping? That will give you quick fun

Alan.

Your missing the point. I know there languages whose syntax is easier to pick up then others. For example, is C++ on the same difficulty level as Visual Basic? It OBVIOUSLY easier. So, I am looking for a language whose syntax is easier to pick up that still has the power to do some interesting stuff on the web. I am not looking to open up an E-Commerce business, rather just write programs that show a random pic or show the sum of 2+2 that it calculates on the back end. I don't think I should have to spend a long time with any language to do that since I already know the logic behind programming and I'm sure I could learn it faster with some languages rather than others.

Is it? In what way? I think VB is easier.


'Your' is possessive, but that too is beside the point. Alan answered you based on what you asked. You didn't make any statements about understanding any sort of language at all. You asked for an easy language to learn, which is a question we get asked a lot by kiddies that think they can learn to program if just given the correct language, so you will have to excuse us. In fact, if you look through the programming forum here, you will find that your exact question has been asked and answered multiple times.

That makes no sense, I'm afraid. The logic behind programming is the same, no matter what language you happen to be using. A boolean serves exactly the same function in C++, Java, VB, Perl, etc.; An if-loop is exactly the same (logic wise). If what you are really asking is which languages have a syntax that is easier to learn than some other languages, than that is a completely different question than what you are trying to ask.

The first question is, what is your definition of easy to learn? My definition is one for which I can readily find online references and examples. If I have enough samples, I can figure out how to use a language rather quickly. Is that what you really want to know? What other languages do you use? Maybe we can suggest something similar.

I have posted this before - I think it is apt here -

Week 1 - learn a language - preferably something easy - (between bouts of skateboarding)
Week 2 - write the world's greatest game (also between bouts of skateboarding)
Week 3 - skateboard down to the bank and collect $1,000,000



Before some script kiddy thinks I am serious, I am only joking - it takes at least 3 weeks to learn Java or C++!

Alan

If you learn Perl , I think it will just take you only one week.


Ha-ha , just a joke.

Well, in my opinion AutoHotkey (like AutoIt, but I think the syntax is easier) is fairly easy to learn and in a few days you can automate many of the tasks you do. There's also an online database of all the commands and you can make quick references to it. AHK isn't anything serious and isn't very powerful, but it can come in handy for a lot of things.

It took me half a year to learn C++ and I'm still not great with it!

It is also muchhhh easier to learn another language once you have learned one already. I'm learning Java right now, I'm reading the Java for dummies book and I must say, it is well worth the $35.00 that I paid for it. ;)

Some sort of C/JAVA combo is good IMHO. I started with C and then looked C++ and JAVA. Using idiot's guide and basic texts it took no time at all to get the basics of them. It may not be 'cutting edge' but there's a lot of stuff out there that relies on them and they are pretty flexible. I've also heard that the flash-based actionscript 3.0 is good fun for web-based app design but not tried it yet.

Original question was to find web-based language which is easy to learn. PHP is server side script language and is easy to learn but powerful at the same time. It is easier compared to other languages like Perl etc. Also ASP uses syntax similar to Visual Basic. It is even easier. You can also learn any .NET based language like C# .NET is made to be easy.

I'd have to go with HTML and Java Scriplets, as HTML isn't hard to learn or write and you can do some neat stuff with it. I suggested learning how to do Java Scriplets as they can greatly enhance your HTML coding.

I was told that HTML was not a programming language as it doesn't have knowledge of events before and after each line.

HTML is a markup language. Although I suppose it could be loosely classified as a programming language by some, I would not characterize it as such. One cannot create persistent data with HTML alone (which is why it is considered stateless), one cannot create data structures, which IMHO is an integral part of any programming language, one can not do math with native html.

I am a bit lost on where scriptlets can "greatly enhance your HTML coding." Java is a full fledged programming language, and can be used to create scriptlets, which are just chunks of java code embedded into html. They can definately enhance a web page, no argument there. But one really has to know Java, since that is the language with which scriptlets are written. Did you maybe mean javascript?