I don't know if this is the right place to ask but I figured I would try. What are some of the best programing languages I can look at to write a app. I used to be a begginer programmer in VB 6.0 and I would like to pick it up again. I want to write a app that should be simple for the most part. I have some rental properties and I need something that will keep track of basic income and expense info, tenant info and general property info like scheduled maintenance or upgrades and it will need to link info like tenant A pays $900 for Property C on X date. It would also be important to be able to run reports to see all the expenses and/or income in a list. So the main things it would do is... Rental income and expense. Keeping track of tenants. Manage property like maintenance etc. etc. So, what languages should I start looking into to start a project like this? I will most likely get some friends to help when I get stuck. Also, if I wanted to copy right the app so I own it and could sell it can you only do that with certain languages or do you have to get a lincense or something? Really the reason I want to look into this is from what I have seen most landlord apps are eather super expensive or they are more limited and don't cover all the bases. Thanks a lot for any info and help on this subject.

Obviously, you want a database backend for this. You could get away with CSV or XML files, but I'm not sure why you would forego the potential of an SQL engine for a file format. Choose whatever database is most convenient. I would personally pick something open source (and free). BerkeleyDB, Firebird, MySQL (has that dual licensing though), etc. If you want this to be a packaged product for sale, the database plays a critical factor in ease of deployment. For the frontend and business logic, VB would be okay. This was the fashion throughout the 90's. Python/wxPython might be better. A more narrow language like PHP (through a webserver) would also be okay. Java is a heavier option, but has some rich toolkits in place. It depends on how this app will be most used. In some cases, an embedded VB app will give you access to a large featureset you wouldn't otherwise have. Consider how long this app should last without major revision and what, if any, extensions you might wish to make. Your own ability is also a factor. Notice that Sourceforge.net (or freshmeat.net) probably has something close to this. You may want to check that out. "Also, if I wanted to copy right the app so I own it and could sell it can you only do that with certain languages or do you have to get a lincense or something?" Copyright is implicit, i.e. by the act of creating you own copyright to the work. If you intend to distribute the work, you usually want to license your work so that you can slap any party that gets out of line. Obviously, you want enforcement to be easy. There are books on copyright which can provide you canned statements that pretty much cover everything you care about. You can sell whatever you please.

Thanks for the info. I will go over all your suggestions.