How similar are programming languages?

[Spev]

Right now I'm learning C++ in a college course, but there's C, C#, Ruby, Python, Java, PHP, etc etc etc etc. From what I know C++ and C# are just more advanced versions of C. I know generally from a little research what many of these different languages are used for but it leaves me questioning. With so many languages apparently for different purposes how different are they? My main concern is I'm learning C++ for my class, I would like to learn some other languages online (or just because more fluent with programming in general) but I don't want to totally confuse myself if the languages are really different or conflicting.

[Castdeath97]

Surprisingly not much different. Once you learn one language it's easier to learn others as you grasp the basic concepts (scoping, variables, methods, etc...).

[Castdeath97]

Of course there are some exceptions.

[cluelessgenius]

object oriented languages like c++, c#, java and those are all pretty similiar. once you got the principals down the only thing pretty much changing is the syntax.

i personally learned c# in college and have since work with all sorts of languages without any special training. a little googling will help. just concentrate on the mechanism and get that down as much as you can. when you got that it wont metter if your writing "for" or "loop" to create a loop. as long as you know when and where a loop makes the best sence.

[Jykos]

They all have different quirks but if you know one it's very easy to pick up another. Assuming it's a similar level language, i.e. once I learnt java in class and got the hang of python, robot c and openScad (not sure what its language is called specifically) each within a day. But it would take much more than that to go from html/javaScript to basic or machine code.

 

But as @cluelessgenius said, there are some more major differences that will take longer to get used to using such as object oriented languages but the basic "for, if, else, while" logic is pretty universal. 

[cfair766]

If your learning C++ then you are off to a good start, C++ is one of the harder languages and most are similar besides minor differences in small things. Right now in college I am still learning Java and it is very simple to code in for example Python

[Nineshadow]

The fundamental programming principles and paradigms tend to carry over from programming language to programming language.

Once you learn those , it's all a matter of syntax.

[Jykos]

 I don't want to totally confuse myself if the languages are really different or conflicting.

You shouldn't find anything conflicting, the worst case is that the new language has a more better/efficient method that you don't make use of (such as objects or specialized libraries).

[Geralt]

They're more or less the same. Syntax might differ here and there but it should be mostly familiar territory after you've mastered your first language and of course some codes might get the results faster and using less codes as compared to others.

[DavidTheWin]

Pretty much all programming languages are "Turing complete" meaning anything you can do in one language you can do in another.

The reasons you might want to use one over the other is:

Simplicity: a python script to copy some files around is a lot easier to write than a Java program

Appropriateness: while you could write your website in C it's a hell of a lot easier to use javascript

Compatibility: If you're running Linux servers it's more difficult to run .NET applications than Java applications. Similarly, there might be a library to do exactly what you want but it only works in one language so you're stuck with it.

Maintainability: You might be more comfortable with C++ but if the rest of your team works with C# you should work in C# too.

[Stuff_]

The language grammar are different, but the fundamentals are usually the same.

 

If/else, loops, conditionals, etc.