Hey everyone. I'm new to the forum, and somewhat new to programming. I have dabbled in HTML previously, for recreational uses, but recently decided to dive into programming as a career. I am halfway through the WROX book "Web Programming with HTML, XHTML and CSS" and i want to know where to go next. I am sold on WROX books, because of how they are laid out and make it easy to understand. my question is, which books should i get next, which languages should i learn next to broaden my horizons best? Which languages are more popular and more likely to be used by companies requesting services? What languages are looking promising for the future? What would be a good list of languages to learn?
My goals are web programming/developement, servers, and eventually advanced web programming with different languages. I've heard of C, C#, C++, VB.NET, etc.
I've done some javascript, but nothing advanced, and it looks like Javascript is a popular language still today. but, is JScript as good or better? should i look at learning JScript and javascript too?
My problem is there is so much out there, i don't know what to look at first, or what i want to do. I plan on using ASP.NET also, and want to know what all the .NET framework entails.
I am sorry there are so many questions, I am planning on taking some schooling and would like to know what to take that would best benefit me. i appreciate all of your help. Thanks.

Sounds like you are on a reasonable path. You have started by getting a few basics and now you want to move on to server-side stuff.

If you are planning on using ASP.NET, you will want to learn C# or VB.NET... and I suggest C#. Note that VB.NET and C# both use the .NET class libraries and are very similar in the results. I lean towards C# because it seems to be more popular amoung employers. Once you start working with one you will more or less be able to pick up the other without too much effort.

For web programming you are going to need Javascript. Don't worry about JScript, as such... just about everything you learn about Javascript will translate directly to JScript and vice versa.

I use C# with ASP.NET and ASP with VbScript daily in my work, along with HTML, XML, and Javascript and a lot of other things such as SQL. I've also used php, perl, Java, VB6, etc. etc.

As far as employment goes I suggest starting with C# if you want to work in Microsoft centric projects, and Java if you want to work in Linux centric projects. Once you learn one or the other, it will be relatively easy to learn the other later on. As far as pay goes, the rates in my area are about the same for both.

These languages (C#/VB.NT and Java) are pretty much neck-and-neck in my area regarding the number of job postings. Along with C++, at least one of these languages are required for the high majority of job postings.

What type of schooling are you planning on? It is useful to take a few general computer science courses so you start to gain an understanding of the history of programming and computers, and the basic ideas about gates and switches, turing engines, binary logic, and things like that...

You are going to eventually probably want to become familiar with SQL for database programming as well. This is very often a requirement on the job postings.

You can get the Express edition of C#, VB.NET, and ASP.NET 2005 for free from Microsoft right now and start playing around with things.

Woody Z http://www.learntoprogramnow.com

thanks for the response, it really helped and was more than anticipated. looks like i came to the right place. i was planning on taking the IT Major from Univeristy of Massachusetts Lowell, or going to the IST from Penn State for a major in IT. where can i find the express stuff from Microsoft? i checked their site and didn't see anything. thanks again for your help!

Try this:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/visualcsharp/

There are a number of books on using the Express edition tools, and lots of resources on the internet. The express editions of the Visual Studio tools are a good starting place since they are free, and you can do a lot of learning with them while you get your start.

There are a million paths to becoming a programmer. You can get a big head start on school by teaching yourself to program.

One note: College degree programs in Computer topics vary greatly on the amount of focus on programming. Some are more focused on the hardware side of things - others on programming itself.

Woody Z http://www.learntoprogramnow.com

the schools i am looking at require a certain number of electives for the major, all of which i can choose from. these range from selection of different programming languages, learning to use developement tools and programs for web developemtn, and internet technologies and networking, etc. thanks for the link, i downloaded all that i could, and i'm going to keep reading these books!