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Is it wise for amateur to invest time in NET Framework languages?

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dmytron:
I'm an amateur programmer so no business talk here (and no buying IDEs).

Currently I'm using Lazarus as my programming language and IDE. However, interface of Lazarus is pretty ugly so it's discouraging for me to use it.

I think about learning NET languages because Visual Studio is known to be easier for amateurs. Besides, it's going to be open source somewhere in the future. But I don't like Microsoft very much.

Is it wise to learn NET languages? Can their applications be run on Linux and Mac? I ask because people ask me to create apps for these platforms too.

What other languages can you advise me to learn? I considered Java but it's looks too hard.

mouser:
Welcome to the site, dmytron  :up:

The current state of cross-platform development (writing code that runs on windows, mac, linux) is still in flux and not yet settled, so there is no one answer that is going to be completely satisfactory.

Recent developments in .NET are exciting in terms of the possibility that it will eventually become a serious option for cross platform development.  I don't think it's quite there yet.

Java has proven itself to be a good option for cross platform DESKTOP coding, and it is the preferred choice for Android mobile coding.  That leaves out Apple's iPhone/iPad of course.

If you aren't interested so much in Graphical User Interface stuff and mobile stuff, you also have some other options like Python.

I'm sorry that I don't have a very specific answer for you, but I guess my best answer goes something like this:

*DO* try to learn another language and ide.  Java would be a good choice and so would a .NET language like C#.  Start slowly and don't bite off more than you can chew.

The modern IDEs are insanely over-complicated and full of so many options and features and tools and stuff, that it can be completely overwhelming.  I think we're going to see a backlash against this one day -- because in the early stages of learning it makes everything more confusing and overwhelming.  Get yourself a good book and/or walk through some tutorials and just learn one thing at a time.

dmytron:
Thanks for the answer. Yes, I'm definitely desktop programmer and I'm trying to find free programming IDE like Delpi but much nicer than Lazarus. Is there something like Delpi or Visual Studio but free and flexible?

Ath:
(While I was typing, mouser also posted, but...) In addition to what mouser said:

Javaw is as 'hard' as C#w, the mainstream .NET language, and does officially run on both Linux and Mac, next to Windows and a plethora of other OS's like Android (though with it's own programming model) and many embedded systems (think: IoTw).
.NET languages can be (created, compiled and) run on Linux, and derivatives like Mac, using the Mono compilers and runtime, but it is a kinda 'reverse-engineered' solution, as it originally wasn't supported by Microsoft, and still isn't fully feature-complete compared to the current .NET runtime, and some parts will even never be done for Mono.

The major IDE's for Java, Eclipse and NetBeans, are free. And there is a free community edition of IntelliJ IDEA by Jetbrains next to a paid version, where the free edition is also the base for the new Android Studio from Google (that currently has Eclipse as it's foundation).

Next to that, solutions for any programming dilemma in Java can easily be found using Google, while for .NET that can be a lot harder to find, or end up in a commercial solution.

(All of the above from personal experience)

Deozaan:
Considering that .NET has recently announced it is going open source (and therefore, easily cross-platform), and Microsoft has recently made Visual Studio Community Edition free, I'd say it's looking like .NET will (relatively) soon be another ubiquitous language.

Keeping in mind the cautions expressed by mouser and Ath, but perhaps being a bit more optimistic, I (personally) wouldn't say it is unwise to learn .NET framework languages. Especially C#.

This is coming from someone who has been programming in C# for the past two years and making desktop builds for Windows, Mac, and Linux.

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