I am a former programmer (C/C++). What is the best language for me to get another job as a programmer?

I have a Master's degree in computer science. I've worked in the computer field for about 25 years overall.





From 1985 - 1996 I worked as a programmer, doing mostly C/C++ along with some assembly language. I also did some small amounts of other programming languages. In 1997 I was outsourced by the company I worked for, and I decided to go into business for myself. For the last 10 years I've done network support and installation, desktop support, and other computer related work as an independent contractor. I have only done a little bit of recreational programming.





If I wanted to return to being employed as a programmer again, what would be my best languages. I realize that C is still used some, but I know that Java and C# are also very popular.





Which languages would I find it easiest to program in, and in which languages would I find it easiest to find a job in? Also, what types of programming would give the best pay?

I am a former programmer (C/C++). What is the best language for me to get another job as a programmer?
________________





I strongly recommend that you leverage your expertise in C/C++ by learning C#. C# is an extremely popular language, and it is in high demand by employers. Moreover, you will not have such a steep learning curve in order to master it—given your extensive knowledge of the other members of the C family. It is both a logical and natural progression for you.





I cannot speak to the salaries, because that is geographically dependent. I can say that on the West coast, highly proficient C family programmers, having more than six years of experience, easily command $80k to $100k salaries.





That said, let's examine which language is the more preferred in the IT sector...





In the IT sector, programmers with Java skills are absolutely, positively the highest in demand, compared to all other languages.





http://www.jasonkolb.com/weblog/2007/02/...





Available jobs are a pretty good indicator of the number of development projects for a given language. Java pretty much dominates in this area, with C# coming in a distant second, and ASP.NET and PHP not too far behind. Not a bad showing for Microsoft, actually.


______________________________...





This next section breaks down the number of programming jobs that were available on a given day. They are arranged by language. Data from the popular internet job search site Monster.com is used as an example.





Data collected from Monster.com:





Java: 6274 jobs


ASP.NET: 2318 jobs


C##: 2737 jobs


Javascript: 2451 jobs


Ruby: 86 jobs


VB.NET:1774 jobs


Python: 311 jobs


PHP: 674 job





If you display the above information in a pie chart, the overwhelming popularity of Java becomes even more obvious.


______________________________...





Let's evaluate the relative popularity of Java, based upon five other criteria:





1) Monthly entries into job search engines: These searches show pretty much the same trend, Java is the 800-lb gorilla here too. Surprisingly, though, Javascript is second even though it's not anywhere near the top in available jobs. I suppose that could be because it's almost the de-facto programming language of the Web, so all the hobbyist and design programmers tend to use it as well.


2) Open source projects: Open source projects are like secret to many programmers; they are the foundation of many custom development projects. Java still wins this round, but PHP gives it a run for its money.





C# gives a strong showing as well, surprisingly. Such strong open source support for a proprietary language is very interesting.


3) Add-ons and support systems: Every programming has an ecosystem of products around it, whether its training and certification, IDE's, or debugging and profiling tools. The dollars per click that advertisers are willing to pay is a good indication of how much competition there is for upsells of the language. In this area, Java finally meets some serious competition from PHP.


4) Number of books sold: Java dominates the number of books available. C# makes a strong showing here coming in right after PHP.


5) Number of entries into Google's search engine: Search trends, from Google: Java dominates again. This criteria evaluation excluded Ruby, ASP.NET, and VB.NET. This is because Google only allowed for the charting of five terms—and those three came in last. The search numbers for Java, PHP, and Javascript seem to be dropping. Presumably, that is due to the rising popularity of the newer languages like Ruby on Rails, as well as using search words like AJAX to replace the term "Javascript," while still referring to the same thing (Javascript).





________________
Reply:i just being a child and a beginner compared to you feel that what you could give to the field with c/c++ and assembly would be incomparable than losing your precious time in learning some other language.


hence i suggest you not even to think about learning other language and wasting your time and money.
Reply:have you looked at the job offers in your location? where i live, most companies look for Java developers with J2EE knowledge (and Java server technologies).





So maybe the job offers can give you a good recommendation.





Considering the pay, i don't think there's much of a difference between the languages (unless you opt for a scripting language like ASP or PHP).
Reply:assembly language but your going to type yourself to death
Reply:I always see a lot of jobs for web programming. I see a lot of php, perl, asp and things like that. Everyone is trying to make interactive sites these days. You may not like websites, but it's good money.
Reply:it is java
Reply:This depends on what programming job you're doing.





C++ are smalltalk is used to create core engines of softwares.





if you're good with C++, i think you will absolutely fall in love with C#. I don't know what you specific programming you're going for, but C# will become a powerful investment. it's used for windows programming, and mostly web programming.





if you're programming AI/UI/3D script rendering/Shell scripting, then python, mel, tcl, lua, and perl will appear again and again.





link below gives more info.
Reply:ASP.NET and .NET in general. Here are free links to


free software and training to get you started.








http://www.thehansens.com/free/LearnASPL...