If you learn Visual Basic first will it be easy to learn c++?

I don't know both the languages, but I'm keen to do programming. I haerd that VB is the easiest to learn, but good softwares are made in c++.


Are there aspects relating to c++ in VB? Which one to go for? Please help.

If you learn Visual Basic first will it be easy to learn c++?
Generally, If you know how to program in any language it makes picking up another much easier. Just like that friend that took up french and then learned spanish as well. They aren't similar but you can put structure to the languages and build a knowledge of syntax (grammer for computer languages).





VB is much easier to learn than C++. However, VB is top level coding compared to C and C++ which run much lower level. What is top level? It mean's that your program isn't very independant of the OS and software its running. VB programs usually require a windows computer to run and sometimes a version equal/greater than Win98SE. Microsoft tried to simplify the process of making programs by building in tools and functions for you, however, it requires certain components in windows to be present.





Overall, VB is still a powerful tool. You can use it to build macros into excel and create very powerful spreadsheets that far exceed anything made by conventional users.





In fact, I wrote a program in VB that could mimic every key press and record all data gathered that we used to pay contractors to do every day. I created a database and I used VB in an excel macro to parse and organize the data to produce reports.





I wrote a chess game in excel. Works quite well for two people over a network.





VB is generally the same no matter the application you are developing for or by your own. You will learn fundamentals about other programs while you learn VB such as...





Functions


Variables


Objects





C++ is a beast though. I strongly recommend having a good understanding of programming before you start I remember ranting on some website about C++ when I first started picking it up.





Why is C++ so hard?





Because its like you've mastered french, spanish, latin, german and you decide "Lets learn japanese and for fun all forms of written Chinese!"





Learning C is easy, C++ is far extended. Not many people write their own code in C++ due to how far its come. C++ programming usually involves understanding a "library" very well.





Libraries, in their own are almost a complete version of the C++ language. 600 page books are written just over a library. Libraries contain a variety of pre-made functions and objects and they take alot of the tedious work out of programming but... you have to know the library well to know how to use these functions and objects to your advantage.





You may use libraries as well in VB but they are much simpler and not such a necessity.





My rant with C++ sounded something like:





Imagine you read a book and the foreward of the book said ,"Henceforth the words 'it' 'and' 'but' have been replaced with 'apetite' or 'ape tit' and any reference to the word 'dog' could mean or describe any four legged creature besides the furry whale resting on line 14 of the 14th volume of the 14th revision of the 14th century AND periods ending a sentence will completely cause the book to shut





Yeah so good luck :)
Reply:vb is easy. learning vb will not help learning c++.





I wud go for .NET with c#. has lot of help available online and fun to learn.
Reply:People that come from a VB background have a dismal time learning Java. Java is dynamic layout at runtime. Some of the worst GUI's I have ever seen come from VB origins -- like the buttons offscreen to even cancel the program.





So, lots of luck. c++ is nothing like VB. c++ can run on multiple platforms but you have to re-write your program. VB is a microsofty thingy.
Reply:Learn programming first - then any language you attack will be easier to learn. (Learning French won't make becoming a Dutch doctor any easier, unless you already know how to be a doctor.)





Get a copy of Wirth's "Algorithms + Data Structures = Programs". (Amazon usually has a few used copies for under $5.) It teaches the basics of programming in English. Then when you try to learn a language, you'll understand why you want 2 3-dimensional array at that point, or why you can't use an integer for money. (Or why .intX = longY / longZ might throw an error.)
Reply:Colanth is correct.
Reply:I would suggest learning VB and C# doing some ASP.net programming, and then perhaps moving on to C++.





C++ is generally harder than those two languages, and is much less intuitive when you are in a development environment. First learn about object oriented approaches and then go into C++, otherwise you will probably scare yourself out of programming.





For more tech tips check out http://www.thetechjuice.com
Reply:It's very hard to "unlearn" the thing that you already learned. You'd be tempted to do thing the way you're already familiar with. VB is so much simpler and doesn't offer much freedom as C++ does. C++ offers a lot of low-level access that's not available under VB. You'd have a hard time moving from VB to C++.





Unless you're want to be a hardcore programmer, why don't you try VB.NET and/or C# instead of C++. Both VB.NET and C# are running on .NET platform and much easier to switch from one to the other. As a matter of fact I'm sure if you can use VB.NET, you can pick up C# almost instantly. The good news is Microsoft is pushing the .NET platform hard, so you'd better of with VB.NET and C#.
Reply:I did the reverse ie., C++ first and then VB. That was really easy. I now find C++ very hard because VB is so forgiving about many things.





If you're looking to make small, handy little apps then go for VB and forget C++. If you want to do something more hardcore then go for C++. If you're somewhere in the middle, consider C#.