skad

Im supposed to build a point of sale system for a pizza delivery company, i thought of using visual basic, but my teacher says its better to use java, so i just want to know your opinion guys, and if i use java, which site can i learn java quickly and easily...im really lost about this

Arevos

How long do you have to develop the system?
Does the system have to be cross-platform?
How important is the choice of language? When you teacher says Java is better, is that a hint that they'd prefer you using that language, or a mere suggestion on how to get started?
How proficient a programmer are you?

mackenga

I agree with your teacher that using Java would be better than using Visual Basic, but I personally think being pinned to the ground by an amorous grizzly bear would be preferrable to using Visual Basic. The bad news is that Java is not, in my opinion at least, a language that can be picked up particularly quickly. If you want to learn Java, I'd set aside at least a month and get a good book rather than trying to learn from online tutorials (I find they're great for little easy things, but no so hot for big involved things like learning an OOP language).

At the risk of turning this into a "my language is better than your language" thread, if this application is supposed to have a GUI and you're thinking of learning a new language to write it in, in my opinion you could do a lot worse than to look at Tcl/Tk (http://www.tcl.tk/). Richard Stallman might not like it, but much as I respect the guy he can shove his analysis of Tcl/Tk - it's a neat, easy little procedural language that you can seriously expect to write significantly complex GUI applications in, and if you find it claustrophobic down the line you can learn incr Tcl (the OOP variant).

I learned Tcl/Tk from Brent Welch's excellent "Practical Programming in Tcl and Tk" (http://www.beedub.com/book/) and although it's a hefty book you can write decent little GUI apps when you're less than halfway through and it's very clear with good code examples.

That's nearly enough opinionated ranting now. Just a parting shot at Visual Basic: even Microsoft recommend JScript over VBScript these days for new projects, so it's not difficult to see which direction VB is headed in. My employer's sending me on a VB course shortly (after I'd successfully avoided it for about a decade), but only so I can maintain legacy systems they wish they'd never written in it in the first place. There's no future in VB, and anyway it's an ugly, stinking language with vomit-inducing syntax and little in common with any real programming language.

I hope I haven't just muddied the waters, but if you mention Visual Basic in a post entitled "Your Opinion" that's what you get out of me I'm afraid! Seriously, though, I hope this helps more than it hinders.

__________________
"I'm not a genius. Why do I have to suffer?"

Toro

I found that Core Java I and II were excellent for good for learning Java. Also, Complete Java Reference is great. I recommend going on Amazon, search for "Java Books" and look through a couple of them. They can be really cheap used book that's in great condition, no more than $5 including shipping. They can also be expensive, I've seen $100 for a new book.

skad

i know a bit about java, an intermediate visual basic programmer and my teacher was merely suggesting, i think mainly because everyone else is doing their project using visual basic, and i need to this project within three to four months, but i have to decide now, because they require us to write a project proposal(a breif description about the system im doing, the company background and stuff, the problems the ompany faces as well as the solution ive come up with)