ColdFusion or .Net?  Which allows for quicker development?
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Quicker?  It depends what you consider quick.  Coldfusion seems easier to learn, especially if you have no OOP experience.  The tags available encapsulate many functions so you do not have to know all the code behind it (>Net does some of this to).  ColdFusion comes with many nice features out-of-the box.  Report generators, Flash forms, graphing capabilities, an email server, and a search engine (all of which you would need to buy separately as COM object with .NET).\n\nThe downside to CF is that it has very limited visibility into the client side machine.  The code is procedural.  While many have tried to develop frameworks that give a pseudo OOP feel they are not the same.  Also, CF was just sold to Adobe.  I don't know if that is good or bad.  Adobe has not said what its plans are with any of the Macromedia tools so there is some question to its future.\n\n.NET is true OOP.  Using C# the developer has access to the entire Windows environment.  This gives you a great deal of control.  Since this is truly OOP, you can encapsulate and reuse your code to your heart's content.\n\nIf you are not familiar with the OOP lifestyle C# or VB.NET can be difficult to grasp.  Also searching COM libraries can take developmental time.  Finding and testing the right object may prolong a project's length, but once you find an object (such as a graphing tool) for one project you will more than likely keep using the same one.
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Well, .NET coding is also capable of developing applications for mobile devices. You can do it with Visual Studio 2003 and 2005.\n\nBut both have a pretty good future. Java is NOT old and outdated. Java is still very common among (especially) cross-platform and mobile development.\n\nAnd some may argue that .NET is Windows-specific. But it turns out, they're wrong! =)\n\nThere's something called "Mono Project". It allows for cross-platform development using the .NET Framework, using languages like C# and other .NET languages. It does not, however, allow for Windows-specific libraries, such as "System.Windows.Forms" or "Microsoft.Win32". But it's still cross-platform.\n\nC# is very similar to Java. I've done a little Java. But I like C# better, since I started teaching myself and using it about 4 months ago. =)\n\nC# is VERY easy to use when developing database-driven applications. And VS 2005 comes with SQL Server 2005 Express? Yeah, that's great! =)
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How this even comes down to a dead heat is beyond me.\n\nIf you are going to code in ASP.NET 2.0, use Visual Web Developer Express. Otherwise, there's no contest: Dreamweaver is the vastly superior tool.
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if you are in lack of time and you shall start the programming very soon ... you have to choose VB.net but if you have a bit more time it's better to choose C#.(I think it will take about 10% time more than VB.Net)\nbut in each case ... when you become a programmer on any one .. you can start the otherone and be a programmer in new one vry soon because they are not very diffrent (except in syntax) this similarity is only for existance of CLR in .NET technology.\nin .Net languages the objects and classes are absolutly the same and the only diffrence is the syntax .... but C# programs run very faster than VB programs.
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Well you can use the concepts of ruby on rails with c# (using SubSonic action pack - link below).\n\nBasically it is an api library that reads your database and makes an abstract property class and matches that with a powerful data access layer (DAL).  Allowing you to quickly (I mean fast as rails) build web sites without having to right any common code for basic CRUD operations (create, read, update, delete).  \n\nRuby on Rails is one of these and there are many others. I personally have written my own and recently found one that is nice for .Net (Subsonic I mentioned).\n\nAgain, this doesn't replace your current coding language.  Its a very valuable and time saving library/concept that you use to do less basic coding and more business level coding.
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I got the C# Jump Start book (or something like that).  It was pretty good.\n\nDon't even try it without Visual Studio though.\n\nDon't get frustrated by the syntax and complete lack of help on Microsoft's part.  I use ExpertsExchange.com and get answers to any technical problem I'm having in minutes.
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Microsoft dropped support for that a long long time ago. In fact with .net they abandoned Basic syntax pretty much copletely. What I suggest is switching to one of the new basics. \n\nPowerbasic is the closest thing to QB that still survives.  If you look in the Linux basic groups most of those also have Windoze ports. \n\nMost of these also have more power, features and stability than QB ever did.
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i'm a web developer too and i use ASP and SQL Server 2000. i've already attended seminars on .NET and, based on your current proficiency, i think ASP.NET would be the best alternative for now. ASP.NET takes a little getting used to if you're used to the regular ASP programming since you don't code it straight to the HTML/ASP page itself. it's a bit like Visual InterDev and VB combined where you make use of "code-behind". if you want fast results, go for .NET since it has an easy Package and Deploy feature for ASP.NET, making server side and client side setup and configuration much simpler.
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Microsoft .Net Framework SDK has a C++ compiler. It is available in 32 and 64 bit editions.\nIts free.
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PHP is very popular and you don't need a license. However, ASP.NET is pretty nice and you can do many advanced things, much easier, faster and safe.
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Advantages of ASP.NET over ASP:\n\nCompiled code means applications run faster with more design-time errors trapped at the development stage. \n\nSignificantly improved run-time error handling, making use of exceptions and try-catch blocks. \n\nUser-defined controls allow commonly used templates, such as menus. \n\nSimilar metaphors to Windows applications such as controls and events, which make development of rich user interfaces, previously only found on the desktop, possible. \n\nAn extensive set of controls and class libraries allows the rapid building of applications. \n\nASP.NET leverages the multi-language capabilities of the .NET CLR, allowing web pages to be coded in VB.NET, C#, J#, etc. \n\nAbility to cache the whole page or just parts of it to improve performance. \n\nAbility to use the "code-behind" development model to separate business logic from presentation. \n\nIf an ASP.NET application leaks memory, the ASP.NET runtime unloads the AppDomain hosting the erring application and reloads the application in a new AppDomain. \n\nSession state in ASP.NET can be saved in a SQL Server database or in a separate process running on the same machine as the web server or on a different machine. \n\nThat way session values are not lost when the web server is reset or the ASP.NET worker process is recycled. \n\n\nDisadvantages to other platforms:\n\nThe server framework runs natively on Microsoft IIS 5.0 or higher and Cassini, a web server developed in .NET (shipped with WebMatrix, a free ASP.NET 1.1 development environment, and Visual Studio 2005); however it can run on Linux on any of the alternative frameworks based on the ECMA standard. The most well known one is Mono Project, a free/opensource framework. \n\nPrevious versions of ASP.NET (1.0 and 1.1) were criticized for their lack of standards compliance. The generated HTML and JavaScript sent to the client browser would not always validate against W3C/ECMA standards. In addition, the framework's browser detection feature sometimes incorrectly identified web browsers other than Microsoft's own Internet Explorer as "downlevel" and returned HTML/JavaScript to these clients that was crippled or broken. However, in version 2.0, all controls generate valid HTML 4.0, XHTML 1.0 (the default), or XHTML 1.1 output, depending on the site configuration, detection of standards-compliant web browsers is more robust, and support for Cascading Style Sheets is more extensive. \n\nWhile ASP.NET 2.0 now produces markup that passes validation, it is debatable as to whether it increases accessibility (one of the benefits of a semantic xhtml page + css representation). Several controls (Login controls in particular, but also the new Wizard Server Control) use html tables to layout components which can confuse screen readers. Extensive use is also made of "inline" css rules (e.g. in the Calendar Server Control) which makes it impossible to fully separate content and styling.\n\n\n\nAlso check out:\nhttp://www.asp.net/whitepaper/whyaspnet.aspx?tabindex=0&tabid=1
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If you learn PHP you can use those skills anywhere.  Once you learn PHP the difference then is mostly syntax.  \n\nThat being said, I have had the easiest time learning ColdFusion.  Considering the fact that it is not open source there are a wealth of tutorials and web sites devoted to Cold Fusion that will help develop sites rapidly.
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You could try Visual Basic.NET.  It comes with a very powerful IDE (the development environment) which helps you focus on the programming.  The help system is incredibly useful.\n\nYou don't even have to purchase Visual Studio.NET (the name of the IDE), but you can download an Express version for free.\n\nhttp://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vb/\n\nThis will tell you if you are cut out to be a programmer or not.  Visual Basic (not just .NET, but 6 as well) is used widely in industry, mostly because it is a good mesh of ease of use and power.  You won't find an easier environment to program in. \n\nJava is also highly recommended for beginners, but it sounds a bit out of your league if you don't want to be messing with text file editors (although there are some good Java IDEs around).
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Choose one of the three. Each has its own pros and cons.\n\nC++, Java, C#
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Both are best for various applications.\n\nJ2EE is best for web based development and Portable Application development.\n\n.Net is emerging as competition for J2EE for both web based as well as Desktop alpplication.\n\n.Net has more features then J2EE.\n\nIn coming future .Net will rule
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Do you mean the framework, or the common runtime language?
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I think you have to look at your target system.  If you writing for IIS, use .Net, but if you are writing for Apache or Sun, use J2EE.\n\nJ2EE and ASP.net in and of themselves are not simpler than one another - it's the IDE that makes them simple.  Microsoft has a great IDE, but there are some good Java IDE's out there too.