I using C# 4 (Microsoft .NET Framework 4.0) within Visual Studio 2010 Professional. I use that for more or less anything: Little tools at work to big programs - everything is no problem.

Web programming is also very nice together with the IIS 7.5! I write with C# console apps, GUI apps and also Windows Services. And it is very easy to write own PlugIns for Word, Excel and Visio etc.

So: If you (and/or you Customers) using the Microsoft platform, I can recommend C# with VisualStudio 2010 Professional to you.

Oh, I have *never* lost my deep fondness for Objective-C and "NeXTStep", now known as "Cocoa".

*Far* less obsfucated than *any* M$ apis in my experience.

Furthermore: the superior "smalltalk style" object syntax, as opposed to the horrible C++ syntax (deeply obsfucated, often requiring template prepasses that hide actual compiled code from user, practically "ANTI-literate" in the deep lack of "readability").

Soooo... Objective-C, Java, Ruby, Scheme, Perl are all choices of mine.

ps: once you accept MickroSquish programming languages, you are fine, *unless* you want interoprerability with non-MikroSquish languages: they are notoriously prone to " oh, you have to use the M$ lib to do that, not the 4 or 5 open source versions" from UNIX, (a real OS)...

Just sayin' , avoid the beast!!!!!!! Dr J2K,

What do you want to do in this programming language? If you want to write embedded code or Max externals, then C/C++ is the way to go.

Thanks for the replies. Chris I worked in sound since I was a kid and I am full time employed right now but I have a young family so I'd like a skill I see a being a little more secure if I ever lost my job. So there is nothing in particular I want to do with programming outside of becoming handy and being able to do useful things that people would be willing to employ me to do. It is a bit vague but I was just hoping to get a few thoughts from people who may have had to make a similar decision.

Well, if the goal is to be employable, I would learn some subset of the following: – C (and maybe C++) for the embedded world – Java, Javascript, Perl & PHP for the web world (SQL would be good too) – Objective C for the iOS (and Mac) world

I'm sure some Windows guys will chime in with whatever is good for Windows development.

At any rate, being a good programmer is not as much of a hot ticket as it used to be. (sorry to say)

I would add:

- Lisp for the fun bizarro world.

And of course my favorite language of all time: whitespace (http://compsoc.dur.ac.uk/whitespace/)

Print it out, and it's like *totally* secure. All of our internet transactions should be handled with it. I bet it's also really good for calculating the US debt ceiling.

brad http://music.columbia.edu/~brad

i use "maxmsp" quite a lot.

Well I had a look at whitespace and it's cool but the indentation is not for me :)

Thanks again for the responses. I'll stick with Java for a while and then maybe have a look at Visual Studio.

Does anybody use Python at all?

Every two years I try to learn C/++ but never really get down to it. In the llate 90ties I had learned it an University and made the best exam of the year, but then quit it all and for no reason forgot the whole syntax etc. Since it is not the easiest/most intuitive to read it would need time to get back and real. But if you have time, do it. It´s a big door and I´d prefer it over Java.

Actually I downloaded the Max SDK but had problems to compile even the example programs since for the PC Version there were missing Libraries of the Mac Version etc. Seems like it isn´t meant to be.

Over the years I have worked on many projects. I pretty much do Windows software dev. For low level graphics/audio software development, like games and drivers, C++ is what is used.

For application stuff, C# is quickly becoming the dominate language. Unless you are doing cross platform stuff, in which case C++ is preferred for portability.

When it comes to creative endeavors, I prefer python. It is my primary language for exploring composition. It is much more flexible and allows me to shape the language any way I want.