What should be my first programming language?

[Phoenix721]

Recently, my friend and I had been thinking of developing our own video game on unity. That meant that one of us would have to learn how to program (that's me). Which language should I go for first?
I asked my teacher at school and she said "Avoid C#, it is too hard for beginners. Go for python, so you can understand the logic behind it all". I have kind of tried python, I can add numbers there and make it greet me, but that's about it as far as my programing skills go. Some people said that python is not good for a beginner, because learning only the syntax will do me no good.

[Enderman]

python
 

best for starting

once you grasp the concept of programming you can start using more complex languages like c++ or whatever

[Phoenix721]

python

 

best for starting

once you grasp the concept of programming you can start using more complex languages like c++ or whatever

Alright, thank you.

[Enderman]

Alright, thank you.

You're welcome

[madknight3]

"Avoid C#, it is too hard for beginners. Go for python, so you can understand the logic behind it all"

 

Python is a great programming language for beginners and you'll almost certainly find it easier to learn than C#, but that doesn't necessarily mean you'll find C# to be very hard to learn. You might, but there's no way to know for sure. Everyone is different.

 

If your goal is C#, and you pick Python first, you're learning 2 languages instead of 1. You might end up spending more time overall if you learn Python first.

 

I would skip Python and try learning C# since that is ultimately your goal.

[BlakSpectre]

C, difficult but gives you all the right basics. won't give you s much rope to hang yourself with as say python or js. Is procedural so won't give you the illusion that you understand object oriented languages when you don't.

[Azgoth 2]

I always recommend people start with Python, all things considered, since it's a pretty easy learning curve and is both pretty versatile--you can do just about anything with Python--and very easy to read, write, and debug code in.  That said, Python's big strengths aren't in writing video game code a lot of the time--you need something like C# for writing bigger, more complex games, because the performance is just plain better when actually running the code (the tradeoff is you usually spend more time writing it than you would equivalent Python code).

 

Since you're learning coding specifically for a video game, there's no reason not to start with C#.  If it makes no sense to you or is being really weird, you can always switch to Python to get an easier learning curve, then jump back to C# later.  But you can start with C#, absolutely, though it might be more confusing than Python for a beginner.  But, that by no means equates to being too hard to learn.

[Jirajha]

Saying C# is too hard to start with is like saying Java is too hard to beginn with.
And that's what's mostly used besides Python to introduce programming at schools and universities (at least for the universities of people I've spoken to).

 

The syntax (grammar) of C# is about the same as Java, only a bit more 'eased' even to increase production speed of programms. It does take out some unneccesary steps you have to make in Java however.

 

To completely start programming, python is probably one of the best programming languages.
It lets you focus on the code logic and teaches you how to "think of abstraction". How to break things down into variables, control structures, comparisons and loops.

 

However, don't be afraid of C#, it's not as bad and the more you know the easier it will get. There's probably a solution to the problem you are working on mostly buildt into it. Or at least most bigger key components.

[clegger]

C, difficult but gives you all the right basics. won't give you s much rope to hang yourself with as say python or js. Is procedural so won't give you the illusion that you understand object oriented languages when you don't.

 

I'd argue against C unless you really want to write low-level stuff (OS / drivers / something else close to metal).  Memory management and pointers are good things to eventually understand, but could act as hurdles early on.

 

My personal preference would be C#, but at a beginner level any modern OO language (Java, Python, etc) should teach you the same base set of concepts.  After you feel confident with a procedural OO language I'd try something functional (F#, Haskell, etc.) to branch out your knowledge.

[Blade of Grass]

Python is probably the best language out there to learn how to code. If you go with C, C#, or Java, you will spend way too much time trying to learn syntax and not enough on learning how to properly program and design applications.

[AlTech]

I'd say C#. then later move onto C++

[dom1310df]

@Phoenix721 make a poll. Python would get my vote.

[Nuluvius]

Another point regarding Python is that you'll immediately get the benefit of being exposed to both procedural and object oriented paradigms right at the start - as Python can be written either way...

 

I asked my teacher at school and she said "Avoid C#, it is too hard for beginners. Go for python, so you can understand the logic behind it all".

 

Ask yourself this: in all honesty why did this person end up 'teaching' and not 'practicing'? Statements such as this go a long way towards answering that question... and not in a good way :blink: *Sigh* I digress, I shall try to put away my disdain this time and ignore the inadequacies of the education system and it's denizens. Instead I'll just say that whatever is easy or hard is a subjective opinion and completely relative to the individual. For instance, I'd say that C++ is easy to start with because it helps to show a beginner what is really going on behind all of that syntactic sugar... you may think differently of course i.e. subjectivity! So let your gut instinct guide you, you're young and have lots of time to make mistakes so make the most of it.

 

Some people said that python is not good for a beginner, because learning only the syntax will do me no good.

 

Yes quite correct and I am one of them (not the Python bit though). Any given chimp, baboon (buffoon) or any other type of ape you can contrive is capable of parroting a task such as hammering out mickey mouse solutions that either don't apply to the real world or push the language features by way of architectural design.

 

It is far better and will serve you better in the long run to get a good handle on software design and engineering principles as early as you possibly can. That stuff is worth far more than learning and parroting syntax.

[NetifxSixteen]

I would start with Python. Although, it depends on what you want to do and how much time you are willing to spend.

I personally began with one that was teached in school(kinda like python) and then moved to html/css/php/javascript.

Programming is easy to learn, hard to master.

[LukeTim]

 

Another point regarding Python is that you'll immediately get the benefit of being exposed to both procedural and object oriented paradigms right at the start - as Python can be written either way...

This is why I thought Python would be a great starting point. Or indeed any language that allows this kind of flexibility between procedural and object oriented paradigms.

To be fair, you could write C# in a procedural way but you would end up with an enormous, very messy, monolithic entry-point object.

My old manager used to do a lot of procedural, C-style code in his C++ code, and I was not a fan.

[EpicAdom]

PYTHON

[Stadin6]

C or C++

 

if you have infinite time and mental powers you can learn coding in binary (machine code) 

 

 

 i am learning C++ and it isnt to hard, i just need more time