I am a Unix systems programmer with 20 years of
experience writing programs in C (not C++). Now I am
retired and searching for a programming environment
primarily to write simulations for financial analysis. I
expect to integrate the simulations into Excel spreadsheets.

My question is: what are my alternatives, and what do
you think I would be happiest with, based on my background?

Excel VBA seems like an "obvious choice", based on those
requirements. But I wonder: will I be happy with the
performance and programming language?

Also I wonder: do I want to use VB by itself? Is that even
an option? Alternatively, is it easy to use C/C++ on
Windows and import the data into Excel?

I would welcome feedback from people ideally with
experience with both Excel VBA and other programming
environments, notably Unix/Linux and C/C++, who can
offer some comparative data.

Also, pointers to specific objective magazine articles on
the subject would be helpful.

TIA.