Confused semi-newbie programmer needs some advice.
ahlatimer: I'm a fellow CS student, but I'm a bit deeper into the curriculum. As a Junior, I'm just now learning other languages in class. I see those first two years as something necessary. It's fairly trivial for me to sit down and read most OO languages now that I've been taught Java for two years in college (plus one year in high school). After learning the syntax, it's far easier to take apart those concepts that they're teaching you and apply them to other languages. Implementing a linked list, for instance, is fairly trivial from one language to another, but you have to fully understand the concept of a linked list before you can implement one in multiple languages. I assume that you still have a stumbling block when it comes to parsing the language, and you're missing out on the concept.I don't necessarily believe you should keep chugging away at C/C++ until the language kind of disappears and you're left staring at the concept, but if you jump from language to language hoping one will open up things for you, I think you're walking the wrong path. My suggestion is that unless you fully intend to truly learn another language, you should stick with C/C++ and just progress with it. Once you are really comfortable with it, move on to something else. Trust me, once you do have that first language under your belt, the others come a lot more easily.If you really do want to switch to a different language, I would suggest Python. I learned Python the summer between my Freshman and Sophomore years, and I felt that the language gets out of your way a lot more than Java (the only language I really knew before then). I think Lisp or Haskell might be a bit too much of a stretch from your C/C++ background. I've heard programmers that have been programming for years stumble over Lisp. It's a different way of thinking, and if you're just trying to broaden your horizons, you should be able to do that without learning a different way to think.I'd also fallow the advice of some of the other people on here and actually build something. I've had a lot of fun doing web development with Ruby on Rails. Ruby's a great language as well, but I found it a little harder to parse coming from a C++-like language than Python. I've heard great things about Django, so maybe you could try building a web app in it?