which programming language?
 

okay, here's my conundrum...

i want to write a program. it will probably need a database type function, display pictures based on what is chosen, maybe some animations. some computations based upon user inserted data.

i haven't decided if i want this to be a stand alone computer program or accessable through a web page. i do have some programming experiance, but it's been a few years. what programming language should i use? please tell me for both a stand alone or web based.

thanks!

Since i'm a microsoft whore:
standalone: VB.NET
Web-based: ASP.NET

drag'n drop database connectivity, baby!

Since I'm also an MS whore but hate VB :D

Standalone: C#
Web-based: ASP.NET

However, that assumes you've got the money to buy Visual Studio .NET - if not, then I'd say:
Standalone: Java (shouldn't be too hard to do db manipulations from within it)
Web-based: Perl

I would just say Java, because I'm a java whore and I think you should only have to write a program once.

I also think that APIs should have consistent quality documentation.

The distinction between web based and standalone blurs,
Java for the standalone
Java/JSP/Servelets for the web based.

*runs*

Dibs on that too
*runs*

thanks guys. i think i'm gonna try out VB on the school computers, and otherwise go with java (it's free, if i remember correct, right?).

Yes, it's free.... and you can get the NetBeans compiler for free if you don't feel like writing the whole prog in a txt file. I haven't messed with NetBeans much, so I can't say how good it is, but I do know it is free.

You can get NetBeans bundled with the Java sdk off the Sun website. big download, but still free.

linky link: http://java.sun.com/j2se/1.4.2/download.html

Better yet, get eclipse
the best IDE I have ever used. It even got me away from ViM :)

I'll jump in on JAVA. I've done a bit of DB work with it, and for anything small it'd be perfect for what you want, although not as quick to write as VB.

I'm a Microsoft whore (never heard that one before). Completely love Microsoft. However -
Web: Java
Stand Alone: Java

If you are shaky around the edges, Java pads things out for you. JDBC is great for databasing. Java's much better than VB or a .NET language at making pretty pictures in UI.