What language should I study next?
 

I've limited familiarity with many languages from assembly through several basics through c and c++, even win32, etc. But, nothing very significant.

A few years ago I started a win32 program that I have pretty much given up on completing in its present form. I need to restart it in something that can be run on the majority of machines without incurring costly host programs, such as Windows Office, under which I wrote an extensive workbook in Excel 5 many years ago (if fact, I guess it was during the last century, although I did do some updates more recently).

I will be writing it primarily on a linux system, but it will probably be used by Windows users. I can test it in a couple Windows environments, both Virtual and real. If necessary, I can write it in a virtual Windows environment, but I do not want to "buy" anything to do so. I have not used any of the MS studios, but am somewhat familiar with IDEs

program details:

- a stats program for competition
- each competitor has many "qualifiers" to decide several class and category awards
- needs to print individual matches and aggregate
- needs to print labels for current competitors
- needs to output html (or similar) code for a web page
- needs to keep competitor data for future events
- needs to allow searching and automatic competitor number generation for competitions
- needs to calculate award payments, but also trophy type awards
- needs to calculate competitor data and generate reports
- needs to calculate scores based on three decimal places and convert the decimal to an equivalent text string, substituting in the following manner:
- - raw score is: 198.012 - formatted score is: 198-12x
- - entry method needs to convert 198-12 into 198.012
- needs to allow for tie identification and resolution, but manual resolution might be fine as long as identification is detailed

If anyone is interested in seeing what the Excel 5 version does, it can be found on its description page: [URL="http://www.starreloaders.com/edhall/bullseyeprogram.html"]Excel 5.0 Based Bullseye Competition Scoring Program[/URL]
[B]Note: The excel workbook contains macros, but you can look at it to see what it does without running them.[/B]

Any suggestions are quite welcome...

Have you considered using OpenOffice, it's free and works on several different operating systems.

[QUOTE=WMHalsdorf;374670]Have you considered using OpenOffice, it's free and works on several different operating systems.[/QUOTE]
I've thought about that, but users probably wouldn't want to install OpenOffice and I haven't been able to get a smooth function between it and Excel, so I can't work on the Excel version.

I've considered looking into Java or Javascript to see if they might work, but I guess Javascript is often turned off and I have no idea if Java is too.

If I program in win32, I suppose it has the highest probability of being able to run on the most machines. My current version even runs under Wine on linux, but is too far from completion to call successful.

If you are writing for multiple platforms you could use c++ with wxForms as your GUI. Then all that would be left would be someone who have access to platforms that you don't have access to compile the code to see how well the interface looks.

[QUOTE=WMHalsdorf;374703]If you are writing for multiple platforms you could use c++ with wxForms as your GUI. Then all that would be left would be someone who have access to platforms that you don't have access to compile the code to see how well the interface looks.[/QUOTE]

...or use Qt...

[QUOTE=EdH;374652]I will be writing it primarily on a linux system, but it will probably be used by Windows users. I can test it in a couple Windows environments, both Virtual and real. If necessary, I can write it in a virtual Windows environment, but I do not want to "buy" anything to do so.[/QUOTE]

I would [I]highly[/I] recommend you at least consider Perl. For anyone familiar with C or C++, it's a breeze to pick up the basics, and once you get into it its power is quite amazing (particularly with all of the various modules available -- Google for "CPAN").

It's open source, and even runs under Windows (although the fork() function is a bit broken, but it doesn't sound like you'd be needing advanced IPC). Google for "Perl Strawberry".

While generally a console based language, it can of course be used to render HTML pages for access via a web browser, or you can leverage on [URL="http://perl-begin.org/uses/GUI/"]various middle-ware[/URL] to leverage on GUI tool kits.

And, of course, a big up-side is neither you nor any of your users need to buy anything (other than the hardware, of course...).

[QUOTE=chalsall;374710]I would [I]highly[/I] recommend you at least consider Perl. For anyone familiar with C or C++, it's a breeze to pick up the basics, and once you get into it its power is quite amazing (particularly with all of the various modules available -- Google for "CPAN").

It's open source, and even runs under Windows (although the fork() function is a bit broken, but it doesn't sound like you'd be needing advanced IPC). Google for "Perl Strawberry".

While generally a console based language, it can of course be used to render HTML pages for access via a web browser, or you can leverage on [URL="http://perl-begin.org/uses/GUI/"]various middle-ware[/URL] to leverage on GUI tool kits.

And, of course, a big up-side is neither you nor any of your users need to buy anything (other than the hardware, of course...).[/QUOTE]+1

Thanks guys,

Since I've already written some things in Perl, maybe I'll take a closer look. Although, Perl is supplied with all(?) linux distros, it really isn't native for the Windows versions, is it? But, then again, Windows users have to install MS Office to use Excel. What might Windows and other OSs already have in their systems that might fit?

Rethinking the work involved in starting from scratch, I wonder if I could rework my original Excel into Libre(Open)Office and convince users to install that?

Still mulling everything over...

Thanks again...

[QUOTE=EdH;374652][B]What language should I study next?[/B][/QUOTE]
Try Chinese or Korean?
They may rule the world in fifty or a hundred years if you plan to live so long... :razz:

[QUOTE=EdH;374687]I've thought about that, but users probably wouldn't want to install OpenOffice and I haven't been able to get a smooth function between it and Excel, so I can't work on the Excel version.

I've considered looking into Java or Javascript to see if they might work, but I guess Javascript is often turned off and I have no idea if Java is too.[/QUOTE]There is an upcoming shift with Java to banning the running of unsigned Java applets. Currently, you can still run them, but you need to grant permission each time.

[QUOTE=LaurV;374744]Try Chinese or Korean?
They may rule the world in fifty or a hundred years if you plan to live so long... :razz:[/QUOTE]@LauV: I could brush up on my Korean, but it is rather limited. Mein Deutsch ist ein wenig besser, aber nicht ganz Gesprächs. OTOH, my Japanese is better than my Chinese and that's limited to only a couple phases...:razz:

@schickel: Thanks for the Java info.

@All: If I approach this project in the following manner, does it seem doable and if so, what direction should I study?:

Perhaps, a set of html pages that include entry forms and displays. One auto-updating page that can be displayed on a second monitor, if such exists on the system and the entry pages chosen by links from pages within the set.