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What programming languages should I learn?

Hi there people. I'm curious as to know which programming languages I should learn first as a beginner software developer. Any advice as to which is most appropriate would be appreciated to get me into programming. :smile:

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Original post by Bilal_E.
Hi there people. I'm curious as to know which programming languages I should learn first as a beginner software developer. Any advice as to which is most appropriate would be appreciated to get me into programming. :smile:


If you have never programmed before python is a good one to start with as it is one of the higher tier languages and is more written based and easy to learn.
if you want to learn a language that is more practical and useful for developing software and such then i would advise you learn C++ as this is one of the most commonly used programming languages, it is a little bit harder to pick up than python but not to bad.
also Java is useful, more practical than python and easier to learn than C++, the advantage of this language is that it is cross platform and will work in windows,Linux and i think mac as well.
hope this was helpful :smile:
Reply 2
Original post by orangeoctopus
If you have never programmed before python is a good one to start with as it is one of the higher tier languages and is more written based and easy to learn.
if you want to learn a language that is more practical and useful for developing software and such then i would advise you learn C++ as this is one of the most commonly used programming languages, it is a little bit harder to pick up than python but not to bad.
also Java is useful, more practical than python and easier to learn than C++, the advantage of this language is that it is cross platform and will work in windows,Linux and i think mac as well.
hope this was helpful :smile:


Hey! Thanks for the reply, it was very helpful. I was just wondering what programming languages were more practical and included variety to them, which you explained well :smile: Thanks again.
Original post by Bilal_E.
Hi there people. I'm curious as to know which programming languages I should learn first as a beginner software developer. Any advice as to which is most appropriate would be appreciated to get me into programming. :smile:


Python is pretty simple, it's not far away from pseudocode to be honest. If you can grasp creating a flow chart and pseudocode to solve a problem computationally then it isn't much of a step to knock python code together for it.

C is good for the opposite reason. You need to know more about syntax and conventions as well as thinking about what the computer is doing at a lower level. It will take longer to get to grips with but you will have a good understanding of how the computer is doing what it does.

Ultimately learning to program isn't just about learning a language, it's thinking computationally. No language is easier to do that in than the other, frankly you can learn that just creating a flow chart. I'd say python is the language that's going to get least in your way doing that, but C will provide you with better understanding in the long run.
Reply 4
Original post by BigYoSpeck
Python is pretty simple, it's not far away from pseudocode to be honest. If you can grasp creating a flow chart and pseudocode to solve a problem computationally then it isn't much of a step to knock python code together for it.

C is good for the opposite reason. You need to know more about syntax and conventions as well as thinking about what the computer is doing at a lower level. It will take longer to get to grips with but you will have a good understanding of how the computer is doing what it does.

Ultimately learning to program isn't just about learning a language, it's thinking computationally. No language is easier to do that in than the other, frankly you can learn that just creating a flow chart. I'd say python is the language that's going to get least in your way doing that, but C will provide you with better understanding in the long run.


Thanks for the reply! I think I will give C a try after reading this. :smile: Also, do you think moving to C++ would be a good move after grasping the main concepts of C?
Java, Python, C# are probably all good choices.
Original post by Bilal_E.
Thanks for the reply! I think I will give C a try after reading this. :smile: Also, do you think moving to C++ would be a good move after grasping the main concepts of C?


I've no experience with C++ to offer comment on that. Chances are once you gain a strong enough grasp on C the answer will present itself to you organically if it's right or wrong for what you want to do. Like I said once you grasp taking a problem and solving it through computation, picking up a new language or expanding your knowledge to something like object orientation like C++ offers isn't as hard as learning to take your first steps.

Check out the CS50 course on edx. It begins with C and is really well delivered.

https://www.edx.org/course/introduction-computer-science-harvardx-cs50x
Reply 7
Original post by ChaoticButterfly
Java, Python, C# are probably all good choices.


I don't know but I find java pretty outdated. C#, C++ is good choice though

Original post by Bilal_E.
Thanks for the reply! I think I will give C a try after reading this. :smile: Also, do you think moving to C++ would be a good move after grasping the main concepts of C?


Visual Basic is a good one :colondollar:
Schwiizerdütsch.
Original post by David B
I don't know but I find java pretty outdated. C#, C++ is good choice though


Java and C# are almost the same thing though :indiff:

If Java is so outdated why do unis teach it so prolifically and why are they so many jobs in it?

I don't care enough about language fanboy wars :tongue:
(edited 6 years ago)
It depends on what you want to do.

I'd suggest learning Python first and then C++. C++ is quite a bit harder than Python though so it's best you understand functions, classes, inheritance etc and spending at least 6 months learning the language before going into C++.

It really depends on what takes your fancy. Python is very simple though and has built in garbage collection for the incredibly lazy programmers :biggrin:
Original post by David B
Visual Basic is a good one :colondollar:


"good" it's absolutely terrible. I'd strongly recommend avoiding such a language if you're serious about programming.
Original post by ChaoticButterfly
Java and C# are almost the same thing though :indiff:

If Java is so outdated why do unis teach it so prolifically and why are they so many jobs in it?

I don't care enough about language fanboy wars :tongue:


Personal opinion. Chrome not too long ago dropped support for Java. I don't know any uni that teaches Java. There are jobs in it since it's still been used.

Original post by AishaGirl
"good" it's absolutely terrible. I'd strongly recommend avoiding such a language if you're serious about programming.


Haha yeah that was kinda the joke. Saying it was a good one was basically the biggest joke of all. I agree it is absolutely terrible.
Original post by David B
Personal opinion. Chrome not too long ago dropped support for Java. I don't know any uni that teaches Java. There are jobs in it since it's still been used.


The one I'm at for starters. Which is the definition of it not being obsolete it is still being used on such a wide scale... :facepalm:

Which is the reason unis still teach each, especially ones with close links to industries.

Anyway Java is one of your standard object oriented languages, once you learn that you can learn a whole heap of others fairy easily.
(edited 6 years ago)
Original post by ChaoticButterfly
The one I'm at for starters. Which is the definition of it not being obsolete it is still being used on such a wide scale... :facepalm:

Which is the reason unis still teach each, especially ones with close links to industries.

Anyway Java is one of your standard object oriented languages, once you learn that you can learn a whole heap of others fairy easily.


What uni do you go to? Just because I said it was outdated, it doesn't mean that it's irrelevant anymore or whatever. I just think there are better and more efficient languages to use. Every time you download it, it tells you it's been used on over 2 billion devices
Original post by David B
What uni do you go to? Just because I said it was outdated, it doesn't mean that it's irrelevant anymore or whatever. I just think there are better and more efficient languages to use. Every time you download it, it tells you it's been used on over 2 billion devices


Not only that but Java will still be used in legacy systems for generations. Java isn't going anywhere anytime soon.
personally i would use C++ over C#, i work with pretty high powered software such as unreal engine 3ds max mubox ect. and these software work with C++ rather than C# .

as you said you were looking at software development i would use C++ as it is more commonly used and as far as i know (i may be wrong) but i think it works better for higher powered programs.
however it is quite hard to learn, i would advise you to find an online course on C++ there are tons of free ones to choose from :smile:
Original post by David B
What uni do you go to? Just because I said it was outdated, it doesn't mean that it's irrelevant anymore or whatever. I just think there are better and more efficient languages to use. Every time you download it, it tells you it's been used on over 2 billion devices


By that logic we should all be using machine code. -_______-
Reply 18
Original post by Bilal_E.
Hi there people. I'm curious as to know which programming languages I should learn first as a beginner software developer. Any advice as to which is most appropriate would be appreciated to get me into programming. :smile:


C++, C#, Java or Python are currently the languages that you'd want to learn. All of them are pretty high in demand, and they all teach you key programming conventions. I would personally go with Java though. Java offers an in-depth insight into object-oriented programming, and recently with Java 8 you can start using functional programming also. It's overall a really nice language to start off with, and currently Java is the most popular programming language.


Spoiler

Reply 19
There is no language to learn, everyone recommending a language without considering what op's objectives are. There is no point in learning C++ if your aim is to be a web developer. The language you learn is irrelevant, the concepts you learn are more important.
(edited 6 years ago)

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