Should I Learn Java or Objective-C First?

Should I learn Java or Objective C First?

Objective C is a pretty tight niche. You'll only be able to program for the iPhone.

There are other iOS devices.

Not a lot of them.

There are around a billion Apple computers, cell phones, iPads and other such devices.

What I mean is, there are job opportunities. Java runs on everything, from Microsoft computers to iPhones to Androids.

I've heard that learning one might make it easier to learn the other.

If you've only learned functional programming like in say Lisp, then learning Java will teach you how to think for objective oriented programming. And you'll learn how to use APIs, which are all pretty similar.

Then learning Java will help me learn Objective C.

Only in theory. However, learning Objective C is painful and might make you run back to Haskell or some equally hard functional language.

How are they different?

Objective C creates jobs as long as Apple keeps using it. Haskell only exists as long as the professors in college who learned it keep teaching it.

I meant between Java and Objective C.

One uses message passing, while the other uses method calling.

I'm having flash backs to that annoying commercial, "Can you hear me now?"

And the syntax is different. It isn't like learning C, which gives you at least some foundation in Objective C.

I know C is used on a lot of server applications. Where is Java used?

Java is a lot more popular for Android development. If you learn Objective-C and want a second language, learn PHP and Ruby, not Java.

I guess I'll learn Java, so I could work on both platforms if I need to.

And you'll be able to make all the coffee, beans and percolator jokes you want at work.

That's not a plus to me, it's not having to work at Starbucks to pay the bills.