Hi Ulf



 UD> I am a complete novice at programming of any kind, but am

 UD> interested in getting into it, possibly with a view of making a

 UD> career of it later on. My problem is, that I dont know which

 UD> language to go for or what software to buy.



I'd suggest getting a cheapy Pascal compiler. There are quite a few

good ones around now. Modern BASIC compilers are quite good, too,

they look a lot like Pascal to me. I really couldn't recommend C as a

first language for a novice programmer. While it's broadly

similar to Pascal, you need to know a lot more about its nuts and

bolts to use it effectively. Ask someone who's just starting to

learn C, about pointers. Watch him cringe.



 UD> C++ seems to be fairly popular, but can it earn me hard dollars

 UD> down the track ??



Yes, but being able to program in other applications will help a

lot. Database and spreadsheet programming, for example. But

learning to program in a language like C or Pascal first is a good

plan.



 UD> If C++ is in, then Borlands C++ 4.0 springs to mind.



Seen the price? 



 UD> Is there any good competition out there ?



Yes. Lots. Shop around. Don't be afraid to pester people for

opinions, after all it's your money on the line. (But don't ask

me, I've only ever used Borland stuff )



 UD> What are the things

 UD> that I should watch out for, and are there any pitfalls that I

 UD> should try to avoid.



If you've never programmed before, then BC++4 *is* a pitfall .

It's a BIG Windows based system (60 megs on my hd, can be as big as

80) and it likes ram - with 8M it runs run smoothly, with 4M it's a

dog. It will rapidly overwhelm you with trillions of options, and

you'll spend more time learning to drive the compiler than you will

learning the language. It does *not* include a good primer for a

first time C programmer, you'd need to get some 3rd party books for

that.



If you insist on starting with C rather than Pascal or Basic, try

Borland's "Turbo C++". I don't think they do a pure C compiler

(non C++) any more. Costs heaps less than BC++.



Cheers



--- PPoint 1.80