Concerning C or C++ as a language, I think it is important to learn its data types, since they tend to underly the APIs of almost any operating system, and sometimes there are not existing wrappers for what you want to do, so you need to know how to make API calls to system libraries. If you are developing operating system components or programming languages, themselves, there is not a substitute for C. If you are developing business oriented or web applications, however, stay away from them, in lieu of much more productive and reliable languages! Only highly skilled C/C++ developers successfully develop sophisticated programs without memory leaks or other problems that lead to system instability. Do not use these languages simply to "build character." Programming has advanced beyond the need to dig into risky low-level details that have been safely addressed by advances in languages that are more tuned to the human mind than elemental machine! In general, the lowest level language that most programmers need to use these days is Java, in my opinion, which handles memory management automatically, has a vast set of libraries, and is strongly cross platform. Jamal __________ View the list's information and change your settings at //www.freelists.org/list/programmingblind