Astrophysics - Which Programming Language

[Seb222]

I've done a very small amount of C++, but I don't want to spend the time I have to prepare on learning a language when it would have been more preferable to learn another (even though it seems you may use several language, and learning one helps to learn another.)

But are there any language you would say I require? Of course, everyone seems to swear by one language, whereas someone else will tell you to avoid it at all costs, so it's all a little confusing. Any input would be really valuable to me, thanks!

[martix]

Depends on what you want to do and which style suits you best.
There are a myriad of options.

One would be a high level interpreted language of one of the math software - Matlab, Mathematica, Maple(there's a whole section here (http://www.physicsforums.com/forumdisplay.php?f=189) covering just those types of packages).
If you are interested in building simulations C++ is a good bet. On the other hand Java works for multiple platforms.
Then there's a whole another area of GPU computing(if you need more computing power), which as I understand it is quite similar to C++ in style(CUDA anyway, don't know about OpenCL).

Besides, a program is just a tool for helping you to some result. And if you are talking astrophysics the choice of language will be the least of your problems I'd wager.

[Astronuc]

I've done a very small amount of C++, but I don't want to spend the time I have to prepare on learning a language when it would have been more preferable to learn another (even though it seems you may use several language, and learning one helps to learn another.)

But are there any language you would say I require? Of course, everyone seems to swear by one language, whereas someone else will tell you to avoid it at all costs, so it's all a little confusing. Any input would be really valuable to me, thanks! Either FORTRAN or C++, with some Python perhaps.

C++ seems to be becoming the new standard particularly for Multiphysics Object Oriented Simulation Environment (MOOSE) with parallel and massively parallel systems.
For example, http://www.inl.gov/technicalpublications/Documents/4336141.pdf

FORTRAN is the legacy standard for larger computational/simulation systems.

There is the matter of implicit vs explicit solutions, with the possibility for hybrid techniques. A lot depends on the time scale and non-linearities.