Both the language and platform should fit these criteria:<p>* Developing under windows. Where I work developing on Linux isn't really an option.
* Web Development preferred. Most of the applications I make are web applications.
* I like to create very clean interfaces but a platform that can make a good looking interface wouldn't hurt.
* Pulling data from SQL and updating SQL is going to be the core of every app. I'd rather not go with a language that makes this painful.
* I'm looking for something more than my current Visual Studios (VB.net) while at the same time I admit I'm no genius and there are probably some languages/platforms I won't be able to teach myself.
I vote for Python. It comes with SQLite and can handle all other databases out there. If you pay just a little attention, then your code will run equally well on Windows, Mac OS/X and Linux. The site-packages contains almost everything that you could possibly need and there are many other excellent packages available. Increasingly Python is being used as the first language taught as part of computer science courses at most well regarded universities and there are many excellent books available.<p>If you are totally Windows focused, then IronPython will allow you to enjoy most of the Python advantages as well as giving you full access to .Net Framework. There also is Jython if you are more JVM inclined.<p>There are several web frameworks to choose from as well, Zope, Django, Plone, etc. And of course, you might want to check out Google AppEngine.<p>I prefer to use wxPython (wxWidgets) for GUI programming to maintain portability. But you could choose to use WinForms or WPF with IronPython.<p>With companies like Disney, NASA, Google, ILM using Python, you have to put it at the top of your list.<p>For more info: <a href="http://python.org/" rel="nofollow">http://python.org/</a>
Don't you feel curious to study and learn everything out there? you're already a programmer; ever thought of venturing out, if even for a weekend? don't you talk with people and have programmer banter?<p>I taught myself Pascal and Basic in week, and the first kid I spoke to who knew how to program told me: "Pascal and Basic suck, learn Delphi". I didn't, I learned Turbo C and Assembly, and I told everyone I met how <i>they</i> suck ever since.<p>For the sake of programmer banter and my own immaturity, allow me to say that VB.net sucks! now go and learn everything else :-) including languages that make non-corporate programming painful (i.e. because they're far too beautiful to be abused with SQL.)
Stick with asp.net - it works and scales. You could always break out in C# if you need a change.<p>Database integration is a snip (and I avoid data bound controls like the plague) and Ajax works just fine. You can even use JQuery at the browser end.
I like VB but I love C# - it's so clean, so easy, and so nice. I think that the Visual Studio/ASP.NET setup is just great for Windows development particularly if you'll be using an MSSQL backend. I'd encourage you to learn C# and really master ASP.NET.<p>Aside from that, I'd suggest augmenting your ASP.NET skills with:<p>* ASP.NET MVC<p>* jQuery
web development on almost any non-.net platform can be done on both windows and/or linux.<p>you should pick what you want to use and see if you can use it on windows. because you probably can.