How to write program for Serial and USB which connect to hardware?

[Tom]

I am new to hardware programming.

I need to write a program for reading data from Card Reader which connects
to the PC windows 2000/XP OS through Interfacing The Serial / RS-232 Port /
USB / Bluetooth / Infrared.

May I ask does serial port equal to com port?

The program needs to read and write data of the smart card which places on
top of the card reader. The card reader has serveral models, they support
Serial / RS-232 Port / USB / Bluetooth / Infrared.

After reading the data, the data will be passed to server's database through
internal network.

On the other hand, the program can write data to the card through card
reader.

Now, I want to know

Which programming language, SDK and IDE should I use? The program is only
running on windows OS.

Languages: C++ / VC++ / VC.net / C# / J2SE

IDE: VC++ 6.0 / Borland C++ Builder / VS.net

I downloaded a Serial SDK from http://home.arcor.de/groschh/SerToolInfo.htm,
but how can I use it?

Any online tutorial, code sample or open source project are available?

Please advise.