What programming language should I use?

[ego_sum_ignavus]

I want to have users enter a name, check a database (how do i create one?) and then if the name appears in the data base have it search a couple of websites and compile the information into a single document.  Thanks in advance.

 

i wanted to know what i the most optimal and i don't mind a learning curve,

Edited September 28, 2015 by ego_sum_ignavus

[Enderman]

python

for beginners always python

[ego_sum_ignavus]

i wanted to know what i the most optimal and i don't mind a learning curve,

[madknight3]

You didn't specify what type of application you need. Web? Android? Windows Desktop? etc

[ego_sum_ignavus]

i don't mind, it just has to be usable on a windows computer

[Guest Kloaked]

I did some Python on Codecademy, but I'm also learning C# on MVA. C# is another one you could look into. C# can be used in Unity as well if you're wanting to learn programming for game development.

[ego_sum_ignavus]

what about the database? will c# integrate well?

[Guest Kloaked]

what about the database? will c# integrate well?

 

I don't know what you mean exactly, but here's some more info: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/dn759441.aspx

[madknight3]

i don't mind, it just has to be usable on a windows computer

 

Sounds like a simple command line app should do the trick so you don't have to worry about any GUI stuff. Python should be one good option.

 

If you only need a local database then SQLite might fit your needs. If you need a remote database then you'll want to choose something else MySQL, PostgreSQL, etc.

 

For gathering the web data

• If they have an API, you'll work with that. Here's an example that works with GitHub's API.
• If they don't have an API, you'll need to do some web scraping. There are libraries like Scrapy that can help.

There are plenty of other info/examples/libraries on these topics if you Google.

 

 

... and compile the information into a single document.

 

What kind of document do you need to output? Text? PDF? MS Word?

[ego_sum_ignavus]

 wow that response was thorough, i have come to love the ltt forums but that is beside the point.

What kind of document do you need to output? Text? PDF? MS Word?

 

i don't mind, but i prefer if it is editable and has the ability to show graphics etc,

 

also what is a API and what is web scraping (soz im a noob

[EpicAdom]

 wow that response was thorough, i have come to love the ltt forums but that is beside the point.

 

i don't mind, but i prefer if it is editable and has the ability to show graphics etc,

 

also what is a API and what is web scraping (soz im a noob

Python is a great language for beginners. It's very versatile and you can continue to use it as you grow to be better at programming.

 

An API is an application programming interface. It is used as a layer between hardware and software. It more or less helps the programmer in building a certain type of program.

 

Web scraping is using an application to gather data from a website. Stock scrapers are very common examples of this. They take data from a website (NASDAQ) and return data from that website (The price of a single share of Apple stock)

[madknight3]

i don't mind, but i prefer if it is editable and has the ability to show graphics etc,

 

Whatever you decide to go with, you'll probably be able to find a library to work with it.

 

also what is a API and what is web scraping (soz im a noob

 

To expand on what EpicAdom said,

 

Some websites allow you to request data from them with an API. You make a request to their API, and they give you back data. The data is usually in JSON format these days but you could probably run into something else, like XML, as well.

 

If a website doesn't have this API for you, then you grab a web pages HTML source and then manually extract the information you need from it. Here's an example.

[PampaZiya]

VB.NET.. wonder why no one brought it up, it's the easiest 

[fizzlesticks]

VB.NET.. wonder why no one brought it up, it's the easiest 

Because it isn't the easiest and it's a dying language.

[PampaZiya]

Because it isn't the easiest and it's a dying language.

 

I find it to be the easiest between the ones I know: java/javascript, c++, C#, VB.NET, lisp, etc.. I never used python but tbh I made some really big programs using VB.NET and some knowledge.. Even connecting it to a database and making users, buy/sell tables, find users, store files, find files, make slideshows.. etc.. I even made some basic games like lottery and a "click the blinkin square" type of game:p with leaderboards and stuff, log files, starting other processes, etc... all sooooo basic and easy in VB.NET 

[ego_sum_ignavus]

Sorry i forgot to mention, I'm doing a programming course on C, will python still be better considering i already know more about C than about python?

[madknight3]

Sorry i forgot to mention, I'm doing a programming course on C, will python still be better considering i already know more about C than about python?

 

You could code this project in C, although it'll be a lot more work than doing it in something like Python. Knowing some C might help make learning another language faster though.

[ego_sum_ignavus]

ok thank you, it seems i will probably be doing python.

[nuc]

I find it to be the easiest between the ones I know: java/javascript, c++, C#, VB.NET, lisp, etc.. I never used python but tbh I made some really big programs using VB.NET and some knowledge.. Even connecting it to a database and making users, buy/sell tables, find users, store files, find files, make slideshows.. etc.. I even made some basic games like lottery and a "click the blinkin square" type of game:p with leaderboards and stuff, log files, starting other processes, etc... all sooooo basic and easy in VB.NET 

That is personal preference. What you're listing is basically the same between all those listed languages. Simple things like file io, and db access are included as standard or have a library that is widely accepted across all the languages you listed. But since you showed a comma separated list, and then separated java/javascript as if they were one in the same screams bullshit. Playing around with dragging some buttons onto a screen vs creating a non-blocking async application to handle twitter scale are two very different things. There is a reason why no one at scale uses VB.NET, and if they do use the Microsoft stack it's C# - for clarity reasons.

[PampaZiya]

That is personal preference. What you're listing is basically the same between all those listed languages. Simple things like file io, and db access are included as standard or have a library that is widely accepted across all the languages you listed. But since you showed a comma separated list, and then separated java/javascript as if they were one in the same screams bullshit. Playing around with dragging some buttons onto a screen vs creating a non-blocking async application to handle twitter scale are two very different things. There is a reason why no one at scale uses VB.NET, and if they do use the Microsoft stack it's C# - for clarity reasons.

 

LOL I didn't mean java and javascript are the same, I've used both and I don't think they are the same at all..