Actual discussion of /prog/

So I have been screwing around with scripting languages for a while now, and I wanted to know...

1. How different is scripting languages from normal ones (besides having to compile)

2. Should I learn C++ as my first true blue language? I hear that its find of funky and can mess with your brain but I plan on going to college so I'm unsure what the best would be.

3. Would it be safe to assume you can make programs interact with scripts fairly easily right?

>>1. How different is scripting languages from normal ones (besides having to compile)
Not too different. There are some different concepts (data types, compliation) but the actual programming aspects remain relatively similar, at least for the first few years of programming.

>>2. Should I learn C++ as my first true blue language? I hear that its find of funky and can mess with your brain but I plan on going to college so I'm unsure what the best would be.
A lot of schools are moving towards Java. C++ has a lot of quirks, C is a little too complex for beginners (people may argue this), C# is Microsoft-only (not the best for learning, but great language nonetheless). The most important thing is just learning the concepts and thought process though. The actual language isn't so important. That's why Java is a good first choice because it's easy to pick up, so you can focus on what's important.

>>Would it be safe to assume you can make programs interact with scripts fairly easily right?
Yeah. With a few lines of code, you can execute a script with parameters and retrieve the output. However, many libraries exist which may allow you to recreate the scripts within the programs, so you don't necessarily need to rely on executing a separate script.