What are the best languages for computer science?

[XDroidie626]

Okay so in feb I am starting at Uni and was wondering, what languages are good to learn before hand?

Python, Java? 

 

Ideas?

 

Thanks!

[UltraNeonGaming]

Binary, cos why the hell not?

[Createinator]

Python is very easy to learn and you will understand the basics of OOP with it. It is the best language for first time programmers. If you have some programming experience, something like C, C++ or JAVA would be better.

[laxer]

Most the low level classes in my experiences are taught in c++ or python.

Now days it's professor preference, this term I have java and c. Last term c and Pascal, the term before that python and Haskell.

I use .NET, asp, jsp, php and the web design languages at work...

In conclusion, check with the uni you are attending and study those.

Regardless once you've started you should become language independent.

[babbaj]

Binary, cos why the hell not?

Binary isn't a programming language...

[UltraNeonGaming]

Binary isn't a programming language...

 

That is the whole joke

[Satlen]

The school with probably start out with Java or C# and then after those are done you might do some lower level programming in C or C++ . I have not heard of many schools teaching python alone but you never know. Just go to your schools site, look at the classes you will be taking and you can get descriptions on what you will be learning.

[Crabtr]

One thing you'll hopefully learn as you progress through your major is that it doesn't matter what language you learn but rather that you've learned the concepts behind things and can apply them in other languages. That said, I'd try to get a hold of your professor via email or even the computer science committee and find out what language/s they'll be teaching the class/es in. If you can't find out then I'd learn Java as it's either going to be the language or close to the language they'll be using. It also has a really low barrier for entry, and there's a ton of educational resources online as well as a large community to help you through any issues you'll inevitably face. If you already have your student email you can get an ultimate IntelliJ license for "free." 

[XDroidie626]

I was thinking Java, then was thinking Ruby on rails, I understand basic HTML/CSS, but I plan to use programming for digital forensics masters, so java?

[Art Vandelay]

I'd recommend learning C because it's pretty simple, if you aren't dealing with dynamic memory. Most of the stuff you learn in C will be applicable to just about any other language, unlike in something like Java, which relies on a lot of code library calls, which are language specific and really annoying sometimes.

 

 

Binary, cos why the hell not?

If you can learn machine code as your first language, you're either a genius or a masochist.

 

 

The school with probably start out with Java or C# 

Don't they usually start out with something horrible like that's not at all like a normal language? I had a friend in CS who said he couldn't make iterative loops in his first language. I went into computer engineering, so we learned C# (because Microsoft sponsored the school or something). 

[na_victo]

Java is the most likely requirement at any school. Python is my personal favorite, but I think learning Java first is better, IMHO.

[madknight3]

I'd find out what your school plans on teaching you and consider learning that. You'll have a huge head start on your program if you do.

 

Don't they usually start out with something horrible like that's not at all like a normal language?

Can't speak for other colleges/universities but my comp sci program used Java.

[Art Vandelay]

Can't speak for other colleges/universities but my comp sci program used Java.

Did you find it difficult to figure out what was going on, starting with a high level language? The whole object reference thing really confused me until I learned C and figured out how pointers worked.

[madknight3]

Did you find it difficult to figure out what was going on, starting with a high level language? The whole object reference thing really confused me until I learned C and figured out how pointers worked.

I didn't find it too bad but everyone is different. The intro course took things slow and explained things well. Personally I found pointers more confusing to learn when I took a course that covered C.

[babbaj]

Okay so in feb I am starting at Uni and was wondering, what languages are good to learn before hand?

Python, Java? 

 

Ideas?

 

Thanks!

please do not learn java

[Midnight]

Why not Java? I think that any programmer should learn as many as possible languages. 

 

C, Ada, C++, Java, Haskell, Prolog, Lisp, Fortran, Python, C#, VB,... \o/

 

lol, Ada...

[riklaunim]

Java is much harder to start with than Python for example. I'm a Python developer, did PHP long ago, now I also do some frontend stuff including JS frameworks like Ember and I can say that you may "learn" the syntax and basic stuff of many languages but real/practical knowledge for given language comes with time and that prevents being actually good at multiple languages (that aren't very very similar with similar use cases and software stacks).

[Ddos Attack]

That makes two of us starting uni

As a future-computer science student (I hope!), I'd recommend learning some languages such as HTML, PHP, CSS; the web based languages. C# and Java are also great choices

[wolfsinner]

The reigning paradigm at the moment is Object-Oriented Programming. Good OOP languages include C# and Java. Most of my courses were taught with Java, except for low-level courses which used C or C++ (and the occasional Assembler).

 

But deep down, it doesn't matter. If you want a boost in college, you should learn how to think and write like a programmer. Any language will do, but Python is a very forgiving language which is great for aspiring programmers. Knowing language syntax is pointless if you can't write working code. Problem solving is also critical for successful developers.

[kingdorian]

 

I'd recommend learning C because it's pretty simple, if you aren't dealing with dynamic memory. Most of the stuff you learn in C will be applicable to just about any other language, unlike in something like Java, which relies on a lot of code library calls, which are language specific and really annoying sometimes.

 

 

If you can learn machine code as your first language, you're either a genius or a masochist.

 

 

Don't they usually start out with something horrible like that's not at all like a normal language? I had a friend in CS who said he couldn't make iterative loops in his first language. I went into computer engineering, so we learned C# (because Microsoft sponsored the school or something). 

 

We had Java and x86 Assembly simultaneously the first 3 months

 

I would suggest Java or Python.

 

Oh and brainf*ck ofcourse that essential...

[Sauron]

Python is the one I was thaught first in university because of how intuitive it is to write, that said there is no "best language", each has strengths and weaknesses. Apparently there's a HUGE demand of PHP programmers atm so you might want to look into that.

[Art Vandelay]

We had Java and x86 Assembly simultaneously the first 3 months

Trying to program in assembly is a lot easier than machine code. It's very similar, but having comments and opcodes that sound like english words goes a long way.

[ngc7293]

As a industry expert with 42+ years of experience I definitly suggest using brainfuck for everything you do.

[kingdorian]

Trying to program in assembly is a lot easier than machine code. It's very similar, but having comments and opcodes that sound like english words goes a long way.

Well but as you say apart from the readability its pretty similar to assembly. The reason why (most people) learn it and universities teach it is to learn about the concepts behind it... Not really to be an excellent assembly/machine code programmer But I must agree its really hard to start programming in Machine code (and assembly) when you have no programming experience but if you've got a great understanding about how a computer works it really is doable. 

[fringie]

Java's probably your best bet, I'm doing Java at the moment and so did my mother yeaaars ago. That being said I prefer c# and c# is what I'm good at, I haven't found it hard to take what I know from c# and use it for Java. If you learn c# it'll open more doors for you as you will know both Java (as you will do it in college/uni most likely) and c#. 

 

I've never used Python but I'm just saying from a practicality standpoint; you will most likely do Java so you may as well learn Java (while trying to convert you to a .NET dev before you've even started ).