I've been programming C, C++, and Java. In my personal oppinion, Java will soon become absolete and C and C++ are pretty rough to get the gyst of at first. If you want to make a powerful web or desktop application with little coding, great-looking interface, try C#. Microsoft's .NET is becomming pretty popular nowadays. You can get the C# Beta release here:
http://lab.msdn.microsoft.com/vs2005/get/ for free. On the other hand if you'd have to chose between VB, C, and C++ go with VB. Hope this helps.
