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I am stuck over deciding whether to concentrate on php/mysql or java.. am a starter and Ive learned that I have to chose a language to which I would exert my effort to familiarize. I do not know the demand for it neither, just need to know which is the best step for a starter like me. Thanks in advance for your kind input. no offense intended. |
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It depends on what kind of company (or startup) you want to work for/on. When I was in college, I was forced to study at least three different languages (even if the demand for it is not that high in the Philippines) in one trimester. Bottom line is, you shouldn't restrict yourself to one language, since demands in the industry are quickly changing. Your skill in another language may help you solve problems that you are facing using a different language. I say you learn at least one dynamically-typed language (PHP, Ruby, Python or even Smalltalk) and one statically-typed language (Java, C#, C/C++). You should also focus more time on studying basic programming constructs, data structures, object-oriented programming and memory management. Knowing these concepts by heart will help you learn most programming languages that are out there. |
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It would help if you can share with us what your end goals are.
Of course, these are just generalizations. Some may argue that you can also create webapps with very little time using Java and Grails. And one can also develop financial software using Ruby/PHP. What I mentioned above are the common trends at the moment in the industry. |
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at the current trend, its not about what language you have mastered, but how you can adapt to the ever changing technologies. what is in-demand now would likely be obsolete 2 to 3 years in the future (look what happened to vb6). my suggestion, go for java.. learn OOP, the frameworks, the underlying technologies (especially of webapps), and the best practices. It will just then a breeze learning php as it is way simpler than java. |
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Learn Java. Lots of options exactly, and not to mention, it is a good starting point for a developer. You will learn how object oriented programming works ( as java is fully OOP). There are lots of jobs for a java programmer. If you have the money, enroll in a basic class, buy a deitel and deitel book on Java/find one on the net, study the exercises. I am not a java programmer. But i have seen many of my friends who are geniuses in Java eventually succeed in their career in IT as coder or anything else. Java can be your starting point to other object oriented languages like RoR, PHP (use PHP5 for full object oriented programming), Python, or anything else. In mainstream colleges most of them teach Java or VB or C#, you can use your skills in java to migrate to other languages since they are very similar. I have no idea about the frameworks for Java like Struts or Hibernate, but I've heard that the tools in eclipse for java is just fantastic. Java is soon becoming a web language, they've just started to package java into a web edition and a "core" edition. I just heard this from the news. After Java, you can learn Jython, JRuby, and other J-programming languages (even javascript, thuough that's for client side technology). To me, Java is "Hard". but once you learn it, all the other languages are just a piece of cake :) |
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Based on my experience, it's better and advantageous to learn both although the priority level depends on your need. If you need to learn something and whip up an application in the quickest way possible, I'd say you should try PHP first. If you're into diversity, go for Java. If you're not planning on developing web applications soon, Java is the way to go since Java web applications need adequate learning time. |
As mentioned in some of the answers given, state your objectives in your question. Please rephrase it such that it will be obvious in the title.