Programming languages are like building crews.

Question: Would you have any statistics or information on usage of the following programming languages in industry: Visual Basic, Visual C , and Java? Specifically, if one were to seriously study one of those three languages, in order to make oneself more marketable in the workplace, are there trends that would recommend learning one over the other? Also, it seems that Visual C is very powerful and adaptable; do the other two languages mentioned have any advantages over Visual C ? –RW

Answer: How about a metaphor or two before we get into job prospects? Here’s the essence of what each of the three languages are about, using an adapted set of metaphors borrowed from Manni Wood, a senior programmer at Strategic Interactive group in Boston.

Think of a finished computer program as a newly built house. A programming language is the construction crew that builds the house and you are the foreman of the crew. Microsoft Visual Basic can be used to build a home from pre-fabricated doors, windows, and siding that can be ordered as stock items from the factory. This is assuming that concrete foundation has already been poured. It is wonderful for making basic applications like row houses, but not atypical projects like museums or churches. The more custom projects – which in the computer world is analogous to operating systems or device drivers — is the realm of C .

Visual C is Microsoft’s version of C used to develop Windows software. Of course C comes with a lot of snap-on parts too, but when there’s a need to do something truly unique, it allows the builder to be their own contractor and design custom windows, doors and to pour a custom foundation.

“To stretch the metaphor a little,” said Wood, “An office tower created with Visual Basic looks like a big house. A bus shelter created from Visual Basic looks like a small house.”

C can create a mile-high office tower of glass and steel, as well as a simple concrete enclosure for a bus shelter. “It scales up to full-blown applications, or conversely allows you to strip the functionality of your program down to bare essentials. Be warned that the C office tower and even the C bus shelter will take longer to program than their VB counterparts. That’s the price you pay for control and, ultimately, elegance.”

Java exists somewhere between Visual C and Visual Basic in its ability to construct things. Java cannot create the highest office towers, or the smallest of sheds. It is a compromise between C and VB.

“C sometimes gives you too much control,” said Wood, “even for the big construction projects, whereas Java borrows enough of C functionality to make big jobs possible.”

From a career perspective, your best bet is to develop programming skills that have to do with Microsoft technologies and standards. That market is hot — understandable of course because Microsoft operating systems are the dominant platforms at home and in business.

“Their tools are more sought after than any other tools other there,” said Tracy Cashman, a technical recruiter with Boston-based Winter Wyman and Co.

Of all the choices, Visual Basic is fastest to learn. Companies use it for a lot of internal business software. The VB developer typically writes financial manufacturing applications as well as customer management programs. Companies sometimes prototype products in VB and occasionally take VB applications to market.

The majority of commercial software products that run on Intel chips are written in Visual C . It is probably the toughest in-demand language to learn and become proficient in.

Java, still an infant in the programming world, has some growing to do.

“Java is a question mark,” said Cashman. “There’s not a lot of experts out there that have it mainly because those that call themselves Java experts are usually experts in another area first.”

Wood is equally down on Java.

“The most damning thing said about Java came from LinusTorvalds” — the father of the Linux operating system. “It goes something like this: The bytecode of our generation is not the Java bytecode; it’s the Intel bytecode.”

That said, Wood believes Java has a niche market in back-end systems – or workhorse machines that run corporate systems. “It really is a wonderfully well-thought out language. The market for Java is still growing, but I think the hype may be larger than the market.”

For great links and more information about each language look at http://www.webopedia.com/ , and search for visual basic, C, and Java.