c or visual basic?

[donmuz731]

I am new to programming and i need to write an application that will monitor my database and email any activities i.e editing, modifications, deleting and creation of new records and a daily summary. but the question is which of the above languages should i use?

[strollin]

If you are new to programming, C has a steeper learning curve than VB.

[celegorm]

C might have a steeper learning curve, but it's a lot more useful and stronger than VB. Not to mention that it's just a great langauge to know for background, VB doesn't get you that far in programming.

[strollin]

It's true that C is a more robust language but unless the OP wants to make a career of programming, VB should do the job for him and will be more productive in a shorter amount of time. I've been programming in C since 1984 and still use VB for quick and dirty stuff.

[berry120]

Problem with VB is you get into the habit of doing quick and dirty stuff too easily, and then find it difficult to change. C would be a better bet if you're more serious - but it's a very old language these days. Why are you just choosing between these two? Have you considered other languages? I'd suggest going with Java if you're a beginner (see my sticky for more info.)

[David Lindon]

Originally Posted by donmuz731

I am new to programming and i need to write an application that will monitor my database and email any activities i.e editing, modifications, deleting and creation of new records and a daily summary. but the question is which of the above languages should i use?

Have you considered c++?

[jackssmith]

C is a more powerful language, but unless the OP wants to make career planning, C may have a steep learning curve, if you are new to programming, C has a steep learning curve than VB.

[root]

different strokes for different folks people.

if I wanted to write something that took some text file for example, analysed is and made a graphed result, I'd use C (have before will again)
if i want to collect WMI data from a host of different servers to see the memory use for either all of a single application on those servers then I'll use vbs (in fact I did this last week, it took me about an hour to write the script how long do you think it'd have taken to create a program in C that queries 4 different servers, pulls out WMI data for processes running, cooks it and the records the values to an output file?).
If I want to make a media program, slide shows, video player CD player etc i'd possibly use media builder -fast quick simple...
and so on...

Fair enough I could do all other those things, in C, or in Java, or in C++, or in PHPGD or possibly any number of different languages, but I'll choose the best one for the job...

and the best tool for the job here, is neither VB, nor C, it's SQL. put some triggers on the tables such that when the data is edited you get an email alert directly from the server.