I think Python would be a decent choice. There are a few good GUI libraries
out there (wxWidgets etc.), and there are plenty of interfaces to different
libraries, hardware, etc. (though I realize that's probably not that
interesting for a beginner). Also, there are a ton of tutorials for starting
programming with python.
Regards,
- Marcel

On Fri, Mar 28, 2008 at 3:19 PM, Dr Skip <drskip@gmail.com> wrote:

> A question for this learned group on software engineering...
>
> If you were to recommend a programming language to a young engineer-to-be
> (maybe software engineer or maybe hardware) to study before college, what
> would
> it be given the following criteria? The selection shouldn't be based on
> educational merits per se, but on usefulness to one's career, conformance
> to
> current programming philosophies, availability (open, free, etc), ease of
> picking it up (good dev environment), and it's ability for rapid
> development
> (prefer something that will do console and windowed apps). The programming
> environment and language should be free/open and can be run on Linux AND
> Windows. Ability to create an exe as opposed to interpreted is preferred,
> and
> stability ranks high too.
>
> Some of those criteria may not seem important in an educational setting,
> but
> they are to a young self-educational setting... ;)
>
> Just to start the thinking off, I'll comment on a few choices.
>
> C - while good all around, is long in the tooth and not the easiest to
> pick up
> and use, especially in a windows env.
>
> C++ - better, but more complex and like C, not a rapid dev env.
>
> VB - rapid and easy to pick up and do something useful, can make exe's,
> but
> Windows only, now only .NET (.NET=bad), and the language isn't exactly
> mainstream.
>
> I was thinking the field might consist of Perl, Ruby, Python, etc, but
> will
> leave it to you to choose. I've used Fortran, C, Pascal, Basic, Smalltalk,
> LISP, and a few others and I would also not suggest them (nor COBOL ;).
> Think
> in terms of keeping him on the right track from a programming/engineering
> perspective and when he gets out in 5-6 years ;) whatever it is will still
> be
> 'current' and the 5-6 years he's played with it will be useful experience
> and
> good for the resume...
>
> TIA,
> Skip
>
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