Please help me to find my way in programming

Question

I study mechanical engineering and I want to study mechatronics and work in this filed. should I know many languages? or just one is enough. what applications and softwares I need for this? I want to focus on one language which support all tools and machines so I can work without any problems. Actually I want to write codes for robots and machines. my friend told me to learn C# and my another friend told me to learn C++ or java. I really confused. Thank you

Answer 1

Programming for robots and machines is not usually possible ony with a knowledge of standard programming language - there are usually special libraries to communicate between PC and robot or machine.
Just start with it - look for any robot (or small machine) - for learning purposes, and see, or ask, which libraries are icnluded (or supportet on instal cd) and for which programnimg language..

Answer 2

Start easy: Arduino and it's c++
Go in depth: Arduino and AVR assembly code
When you feel confortable try microchip and other MCU.
The choice of Arduino as a start is due to the vast amount of guides, tutorials end informative material available mostly for free.
You can explore interfacing computers with your MCU using Java or Python.
For starting with Java/python and Arduino, the Processing IDE (www.processing.org) is a nice tool.

Answer 3

C# and Java are incredibly similar, such that if you know one, you are likely able to work out what the other is doing too.
I found C# and C++ incredibly fun, but I would choose C#