What is the best programming language to learn?

C++/Java/asp.net/Visual basic/Delphi.. etc So many programming language, but what is the best to learn. Please, do not answer by choosing the easiest to learn. I want the one which the most wanted in the industry.

What is the best programming language to learn?
Well, there are thousands of languages and some are more suitable and adoptable than others. It's probably good to learn C, C++, and Java since they are popular and used by a lot of people and buisness. But, Visual Basic is kind of good for general intro to programming, asp.net is good for web-related applications, etc... so, it depends on to what you want to program. However, it's beneficial to know a lot of languages.
Reply:If you are interested in being a web programmer, I would recommend the dot net languages such as Visual Basic.net (VB.net) and asp.net. These seem to be the new popular ones. You should also have a working knowledge of HTML. Once you are on the job, you might be mixing all of these languages on one web page, so anything you study will be helpful. I was mixing ASP with VB Script with JAVA Script, HTML and SQL Server.
Reply:C++





That leads to Java which is very universal





If you are sure you'll end up in windows programming, visual basic is easy to learn but compiles 'big' and is kind of ridiculed by the programming industry.
Reply:Java is all the rage right now but i think learning VB is a nice place to start.
Reply:C and C++ will be in demand for a long time to come, but are not necessarily good languages to start learning. Visual Basic is brilliant for that, as long you keep it simple by avoiding the "Variant" data type. You can write amazingly tiny simple programs, and WATCH them working as you step through them. Moving on to C or C++ will then be much easier than if you had started with them from scratch.
Reply:Argh! How many times must people ask what the "best" language is?! IT'S ENTIRELY OBJECTIVE. What I think is the best may not be what the next man thinks is the best - it's up to the taste and opinions of the individual - nobody can tell you what you like but you! ALL programmings languages are wanted SOMEWHERE in the industry - it depends a lot on what you want to be doing with your life!





Rawlyn.
Reply:The best programming language out there hands-down is "C" and I'll tell you why. C has been around forever, is mature, is very-efficient and if coded correctly is very portable (not binary portable like Java--you have to recompile for each platform). C is the language used for all industry-strength applications, for example, Windows NT/XP on up are based off of a C-written core... so is Unix/Linux (the core at least). Also, if you can write in C, you can pretty much "downgrade" to most any other programming language. Java is all the rage right now but after all the hype and hysteria... C will always always always be in demand and be around.