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Monday 2 February 2015

Which Programming Language should I Learn First



What Programming Language should I learn First?

This is a question that I myself asked a thousand times when I was a first time learner. Though I am still a total newbie in programming... :P

Deciding the first programming language is a topic that is still under debate among experts as well as beginners.Cause there are thousands of options to choose from. You can ask ten programmers what the best programming language is to get your feet wet with, and you could get ten different answers. Which language you start with depends not only on how beginner-friendly it is, though, but also the kind of projects you want to work on, why you're interested in coding in the first place, and perhaps also whether you're thinking of doing this for a living. Here are some considerations and suggestions to help you decide.

"
Most good programmers do programming not because they expect to get paid or get adulation by the public, but because it is fun to program.
"
– Linus Torvalds (creator of Linux)

Some Most-Often Recommended Programming Languages For Beginners :


Most of the "mainstream" programming languages—such as C, Java, C#, Perl, Ruby, and Python—can do nearly the same tasks as the others. Java, for example, works cross-platform and is used for web apps and applets, but Ruby also can do large web apps and Python apps similarly run on Linux and Windows. Because many languages are modeled after each other, the syntax or structure of working on them is often nearly identical, so learning one often helps with learning the others. However they differ, in how easy they are to set up and work with.

  • C - Most Popular  :

     

    C is one of most widely used programming languages.  C is a "machine level" language, so you'll learn how a program interacts with the hardware and learn the fundamentals of programming at the lowest hardware level (C is the foundation for Linux/GNU). You learn things like debugging programs, memory management, and how computers work that you don't get from higher level languages like Java—all while prepping you to code efficiently for other languages. C is the "grandfather" of many other higher level languages, including Java, C#, and JavaScript which means all these languages and many others are written in C.

    That said, coding in C is a little difficult and has a steeper learning curve than other languages, and if you're not planning on working on programs that interface with the hardware like tapping into device drivers, for example, or operating system extensions, learning C will add to your education time, perhaps unnecessarily. There has been a lot of debate on C being the first programming language. However, personally, I don't think it's a  very beginner-friendly language. It'll teach you discipline, but you'll have to learn an awful lot before you can make anything useful. Also, because it's so strict you might end up frustrated. So basically I won't recommend learning C as a first language. 
  • Java - Most Practicle Language to Learn :

     

    Java is the second most popular programming language, it's been taught for decades. Java enforces solid Object Oriented principles (OOP) that are used in modern languages including C++, Perl, Python, and PHP. Once you've learned Java, you can learn other OOP languages pretty easily.
    Java has the advantage of a long history of usage. It's widely used for many purposes (including Android app development), so it's a very practical language to learn.Though you won't get machine-level control, as you would with C, but you'll be able to access as well as manipulate the most important computer parts like the filesystem, graphics, and sound for any fairly sophisticated and modern program—that can run on any operating system.

  • Python - Easy To Learn But Powerful :

     

    Now let me admit, I'm a python fan. It was my first programming language, and believe me it is really easy to learn Python. So, there will be a lot of discussions about python in this blog in near future..

    Many people recommend Python as the best beginner language because of its simplicity yet great capabilities. The code is easy to read and enforces good programming style (like indenting), without being overly strict about syntax (things like remembering to add a semicolon at the end of each line). Python is an absolute must for beginners who want to get their feet wet with Linux (or are already familiar with Linux). Python's popularity is also rising quickly today thanks to wide adoption on popular websites like Pinterest and Instagram. Sites like Google, Youtube also uses Python.

    So, basically Python is not only easy to learn and super flexible programming language, it has a vast implementation in the world as well. And I personally will recommend everyone to learn Python.
  • HTML/CSS - For Building Websites :

     

    Though HTML is not actually a programming language,(It is a markup language). But If you want to build websites on your own, or you plan to make your career in web development or something you have to master HTML as well as CSS (Cascading Style Sheets).

    If you are interested in HTML/CSS there are plenty of useful sites to learn it. Like Codecademy, w3schools etc.
  • JavaScript - For Building Interactive Websites :

     

    JavaScript (of little relation to Java) requires the least amount of set up to get started with, since it's already built into web browsers. A lot of people also recommend you start with JavaScript because it has a relatively forgiving syntax (you can code loosely in JavaScript), you see immediate results from your code, and you don't need a lot of tools. If you want to make cool interactive things for the web, JavaScript is a must-have skill.

1 comment:

  1. If you want to share your own views on this topic, you can post it as a comment, it will be appreciated.

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