What is the most effective language for cross-platform development, that's relatively easy to learn?

[limcid]

I'm not new to programming, but my skills are a bit dated. I've got some significant programs developed in VB6 (way beyond drag/drop controls) that I would like to finally finish and graduate them into the 21st century. But, I want them to be functional across as many platforms as possible, including on the web.

 

Which programming language should I focus on learning? My guess is that it's going to be java-something, but I'm not sure. I don't have time to learn anything C-ish. I need pixel-level control of graphics and printing for high-res musical notation, as well as midi playback ability.

 

Any suggestions? Thanks!

[tymaul]

I've heard that Java is the easiest to go from program to program regardless of what you are working on you won't be stuck because you only know that. And it's always rather basic and doesn't stray too much from the other languages making it quite easy to build upon once you have already learned.

[digitalsatori]

Another vote for Java here - that's going to be your most well-rounded it-runs-on-everything language.  Otherwise, a web-based solution would be your best bet.  PHP/MySQL would be a good language combination to learn to develop web applications, which are very cross-platform.

 

I'm just starting my path on learning Java, but I have seen how versatile the applications are - they can run on Linux, BSD, Android, Windows, etc - almost completely independent of the host OS.

[queenbellevue]

I've only been learning python so I'm no expert, but I hear that python is a good place to start with programming. Java is good if you want to get into web development apparently.

[KenBrace]

Learn Javascript. It can be used for web, games, apps, etc. It's a lot like C# just a smaller language with less power but easier to learn.

 

Of course if you're going to learn web then you'll also need to know HTML and CSS along with PHP.

[protoboard]

Right now I'm learning Java (I've had some exposure to the language before but now I'm really learning how to program with it) and I can tell you it's not exactly an easy language to learn. It's very verbose so you need to write a lot of code to get something done.

 

Before diving into Java I tried Processing, which is just Java-made-easy. It's as cross-platform as Java because well... it's Java! Think of Processing as an abstraction layer that let you write Java code in an easier way. I just love it!

 

I'm not an expert but for an easy to learn and use language that it's pretty much cross platform Processing is a good choice. Also, I see you are dealing with some kind of multimedia applications there. Processing is specially suited for that kind of job.

[queenbellevue]

Right now I'm learning Java (I've had some exposure to the language before but now I'm really learning how to program with it) and I can tell you it's not exactly an easy language to learn. It's very verbose so you need to write a lot of code to get something done.

 

Before diving into Java I tried Processing, which is just Java-made-easy. It's as cross-platform as Java because well... it's Java! Think of Processing as an abstraction layer that let you write Java code in an easier way. I just love it!

 

I'm not an expert but for an easy to learn and use language that it's pretty much cross platform Processing is a good choice. Also, I see you are dealing with some kind of multimedia applications there. Processing is specially suited for that kind of job.

 

I've never heard of processing before. Could you tell me where I can learn this?

[Nathan]

Right now I'm learning Java (I've had some exposure to the language before but now I'm really learning how to program with it) and I can tell you it's not exactly an easy language to learn. It's very verbose so you need to write a lot of code to get something done.

 

Before diving into Java I tried Processing, which is just Java-made-easy. It's as cross-platform as Java because well... it's Java! Think of Processing as an abstraction layer that let you write Java code in an easier way. I just love it!

 

I'm not an expert but for an easy to learn and use language that it's pretty much cross platform Processing is a good choice. Also, I see you are dealing with some kind of multimedia applications there. Processing is specially suited for that kind of job.

I've never heard of it either.  I think if deciding between Java or Processing, Java would be the better choice.

[protoboard]

You can learn Processing by following the tutorials on processing's site. Personally I first learned how to use by reading Learning Processing by Daniel Shiffman. That's a great book for learning how to program. The only drawback about the book is that it covers Processing 1.x and some things don't work in the same way with current versions (the current version is 2.2.1 although they also offer version 1.5 on their donwloads list) but an updated version of the book is going to be published on may this year.

 

Processing is specially suited for applications that make use of audio and video or that have some sort of interaction. For more general uses it's better to use Java.

 

I recommend you to take a look at Processing. It's an interesting and fun project.

[Alania]

I'd say either Java or Visual C++, even though the second one is by far harder (depending on what level you wish to get to). My first ever language was HTML, then it was Javascript which was quite easy to learn, as it's very user friendly.

[johnv5]

 The most effective languages for cross-platform development, that's relatively easy to learn are given here:

1 Pascal

2 Objective-C

3 C++

4 Ruby on Rails

5 HTML5

6 Java

7 Typescript