Awhile back I posted a question about a kid I know and his d

Awhile back I posted a question about a kid I know and his dilemma about getting a college degree. He has decided to go for it and apparently already has some credits in computer science and math already (AP or something?), so he gets to move on to more interesting stuff.

One of his choices as an elective programming class is to either take Objective-C for Mac or C++ programming. I am guessing that these classes won\'t teach programming concepts like a CS 101 course or something would but probably more how to build programs out with a specific toolset. He asked me which he should go for; he wants to do the Objective-C because he has a Mac and an iPhone and it would be a good way to get his feet wet, I think he should do C++ because it\'s more standardized and widely used in industry.

Then again, maybe it doesn\'t really matter since it\'s all just experience anyway and that never hurts. Any thoughts about this? I always hate giving advice to aspiring programmers because I am always afraid that I\'m just passing along what my ideals are and what I think is important when it might not be. It\'s been a long time since I did CS classes and I\'m not sure what the curriculum is like these days. When I went to school it was C and then Java for OO later on; I never had a choice really it was what it was.

Solution

Objective-C is very limiting, in the sense that it\'s an almost entirely apple-specific language. C++ will allow support for multiple platforms, and isn\'t as specific as Objective-C.

(Yet you can write programs for your iPhone in C++ as well. objective-C is not a required language. In fact, i write IOS applications in C#)

In addition, knowledge of C++ will lay a good foundation, making it easier to learn C-style languages in general (think C#, Java, etc) whereas the fundamentals of objective-c might make it an alien experience to learn another language. (null is nil, there is no string basetype, there is an nsstring basetype).

From a student with aspiration\'s point of view, C++ is the better language to learn.

To get him interested in C++, maybe have him look at LibCinder, which has been used in iPhone and iPad applications as well.