Thread: What's a good first programming language?

Well, I had forgotten what the M stood for . I remembered it was Hyper Text Something or other Language. Might have been important to know. I'm on a Windows right now, but my other computer runs Windows and Linux, and I'm trying to get Linux on this one (ubuntu). Which should I use to start out with? I've heard a lot of things circulating around Python, so I think I'll try that.

I fully disagree that C++ is a difficult language to learn. I don't think it's inherently any more complex or confusing than other high-level, object-oriented languages. C, on the other hand, I found to be pretty tedious in my--admittedly limited--exposure to it.

I want to emphasize that I am not a programmer. But with that said, among the 4 languages that I've worked with to some extent (Basic, C, C++, Java), C++ was my favorite.

Well, my dad and I talked about it for a bit, and he was telling me he's thinking of something along the lines of Ruby. We also figured out I'll be doing it in Linux, mostly because it's going to be easier to use it for personal pursuits. Apparently, a lot of places won't give you a job if you can only do it in Linux, though.

As far as the big "Java vs C++" battle goes, here's my experience:

At my uni, the computer engineers started with C++, and then did Java. The CS students started with Java and then went to C++.

Those that started with C++ had a MUCH easier time transitioning to Java than the other way around, because they had the opportunity to wrap their heads around pointers and references. Ont he other hand, the Java folks were TOTALLY lost when trying out C++ because of the "always by reference" nature of the language making it easy to use without having to understand that aspect.

For that reason, i think C++ is a decent way to start, IF you are willing to invest your time and energy into doing it right.

I'm still waiting to hear what you're planning on using it for, though. I mean, you brought up HTML in there, so I'm really unsure here.

I fully disagree that C++ is a difficult language to learn. I don't think it's inherently any more complex or confusing than other high-level

And it really isn't My point was just that as a complete newbie it can really have a steep learning curve, but if you already got your basic ground then it's not any harder. So if you wanna start out with C++ you can do that, if you're willing to fight for it ^^

I would suggest Perl or Python. Perl is very useful for making scripts in some programs, I know many IRC clients have support for Perl userscripts, and that would be a good way to practice. Perl is also good for automating tasks and other stuff like that. Python is also useful and pretty easy to learn, and if I remember correctly, Google and NASA both use it, along with other big companies.

I'm not a programmer though, so take my advice lightly.

My advice is start with Javascript, then Perl, then Python, then C++. That will give you a very round view on programming and programming theory.

Even though Javascipt isn't a very complex language, it still has similar syntax to plenty of other languages and teaches variables, input, and how to interact with objects and such, at a very high level, which makes it easy to understand. I started with it.


Ruby is poop, by the way.