I recommend Java since the syntax is similiar to C++ so it shouldn't be hard to pick up and will give you a sense of OO design which is central to Java.

From an operational standpoint, you will likely want to invest some time in learning a scripting language to help you with your day to day tasks. To help you write tests for your C++ projects, help you write build scripts and such. Perl and Python are great for this. In my experience, Perl is easier to learn and make useful than Python, but it won't help you with your discipline. Perl programs tend to get quite ugly quite quickly and many people criticize it as being "write once, read never". I agree with that comment.

I believe one purpose of Python is to address the messiness of Perl but trying not to sacrifice the usefulness. Judging from it's popularity, it may do that quite well.

Another language worth considering is Scheme. With some implementations you can get some scripts done reasonably easily (e.g. Bigloo), but not nearly as easily as Perl. What it does offer is a new way of thinking about problems which C++ doesn't really afford.

I'm also interested in Vault.

[Edited by - flangazor on January 9, 2005 12:06:36 PM]

Quote:Original post by Darobat
Befunge!

Or a bit of Brainf***, eh?

Quote:Original post by flangazor
I'm also interested in Vault.

No freaking way... C? with closures? and compile-time checked rules? I'm going to have to keep my eye on this one.

Seeing as objects are instantiable closures and C++ has objects and compile time type checking, I don't think those are big deals. What interests me is the intent to have an actual module system (instead of macros to rudimentarily copy and paste code in place) and first order functions (instead of function pointers, functor, or boost::lambda workarounds).