Which Language though?

[teddy710]

Wanna learn to program because it's just something that will come in handy. What language should I learn and why? If you could give a few examples for different scenario's then please do so. Thanks!

[Hans Christian | Teri]

Java is a fairly friendly language to learn, and shares syntax with a lot of other languages (C#, C++ etc etc). This is by many considered the best starting point. Personally I've fallen in love with Python lately, as it's quite easy to both write and read, and just like Java there are great sources for learning online. It doesn't really matter what language you choose to learn though, what matters is learning to program. The theoretical part of it that is. Courses that teach you this (design patterns, interfaces etc etc) are a bit harder to come by in my experience, but it should be doable.

[GreezyJeezy]

Python is good to start with

[FedeWar]

Java, Python or VB.NET are pretty simple with a lot of tutorials and documentation.

[Gachr]

Java is the most difficult language I've dealt with. However, there are pros to learning a difficult language as the first one, since then all the easier languages will be... easier than if you started with an easy language. Java is quite an industry standard for programming different kinds of commercial programs, you can also make Android apps with it.

Another solid choice is C++ (one of harder languages), which is the most versatile language out there. You can use it for practically anything, it is THE standard.

I have mostly programmed in Ruby, which is a great language, which has features that no other language has... its great looks and intuitive-ty are deal breakers for many Ruby programmers. You can do lots of things with it, even though a bit less than C++. Ruby can be used for pretty much any higher-level program, and it's super popular (and great for) server-side web programming.

There is also JavaScript, it's not used for the usual programming much, even though it changes gradually with Node.js which enables JS to have functionality similar to other languages like Ruby. JS is the only language used for scripting websites and making them interactive. If you wish to do more things with JS, you can use Node for back-end programming as well as easy app making with Electron, those solutions are pretty nice and modern, but not mature enough in many ways, which is why I switched to Ruby from JS. And no, JS doesn't have ANYTHING to do with Java (except that both are horrifying languages), it's just that Java is popular so someone thought that putting "Java" in the name of their language is a good idea.

I think that's it, those are the 4 choices I would (more or less) recommend for you. I never proof read my posts, so if there is anything confusing, just hit me up.

Why don't I recommend Python? Some will ask. I think it's not as good language as Ruby in itself, but the functionality is similar. Python indeed has a large community, but it has its downsides...

Python is like Minecraft. Minecraft is a cool game, not the best of its kind, but it's nice and it was pumped by all its users. However, Minecraft's popularity made the community huge and immature, which made the game worse overall. Also, some Minecraft users decided to stagnate the game a bit by using older, feature-lacking versions.

I'd write some more, but I think it's already confusing enough. I hope it helped

[PampaZiya]

Ummm, none.

 

You need to understand how a program works, the concept, the architecture of it all, start by understanding how a program actually works so you can manipulate your code to the best efficiency. 

 

Computer Science isn't just programming. Anyone, given enough time, can learn the syntax of any language and start programming and just taking bunch of codes from youtube and slamming it in his program and call it a day. That's how losers do it, honestly.

 

You need to understand the logic, it's way way more important than just learning a programming language because they are all alike, same thing, different syntax. But, if you learn all the logic behind it, you will take off in ANY language.

 

For example, you can write a code that works but you did it the lazy way, you just wanted something that works and it worked fine, few months later, using that program you realized it's using so much of the CPU's power, where your friend's program, doing the exact same thing, is using 500% LESS (Trust me, it can be that bad)

 

Last semester, I had a graphical Java project, an elevator using threads and it turned out to be really good and it was fun to make. I then realized that it's using 60-70% of my CPU.. A Java program that isn't that big but was using so much! I restudied my code and with further enhancements, It ended up using 5-6% of my CPU (YES). 

 

There's a lot of things that go into programming a successful product. Start from the basics, don't rush your way up. 

 

And one more thing, YOU ARE NEVER an expert in ANY language. Keep that mentality in your head and you will always strive for more, I have been using a lot of programming language like C, C++, Java, VB.NET, PHP, HTML-CSS, lisp, C# and it goes on and on but I wouldn't call myself even good in any of them, seeing what amazing, incredible, HUGE things people are doing with them.

 

Let me break it down for you, what are you interested in doing ? Android apps? IOS Apps? Then you will be needing to learn Java AND how android handles things (Android Studio) and Swift for IOS.

 

If you are into games, C++ and C# are the best imo, Unreal Engine 4 and Unity use them.

 

So many scenarios, do the research online. We, here, can't give you the best answer or the answer you're looking for because there's so many variables to consider.

 

Good luck !

[Sunshine1868]

Frankly, as silly as this sounds, your best bet would be to learn Swift. 

Before everybody gets all angry that it was invented by Apple, remember that it is nothing more than a revision on C language...

Also, since its meant to run on iPhones and Macs and the like, your apps could sell and make you some money  

[Beskamir]

Python is easy to learn and has actual uses (blender is written in python). Once you learn Python then you could try learning something like C++ since it's used in pretty much all software development. Once you learn one language others come much easier. 

[VulsaviiK]

There's a few angles to this:

Java and Python are good starting points, worth noting that Python recently overtook Java as the introductory language of choice at many top CS school/universities/colleges. Pythons syntax is designed to be very readable and newbie friendly, Java, maybe a little more like C++/C# which are very popular in development. Either of these are good starting points.

 

Another angle is that you should learn what those languages "do for you", which would suggest learning something like C first. You'll gain a very good understanding of what's hidden in Java's base packages, that you will never see because you don't need to with those languages.

 

It also depends on what you want to do. Java and Swift are used heavily in mobile development (Android and iOS respectively), but if you want to make websites, you'd be better off learning PHP and JavaScript. Likewise for games and desktop apps, it's mostly about C# and C++

 

Ultimate the language you learn doesn't matter as much as how to implement efficient code, and understanding the fundamentals of software architecture, though, I wouldn't worry about that too much while you're still trying to grasp the basics

[AlTech]

On ‎4‎/‎26‎/‎2016 at 9:00 PM, teddy710 said:

Wanna learn to program because it's just something that will come in handy. What language should I learn and why? If you could give a few examples for different scenario's then please do so. Thanks!

I would say C#. It's similar to Java except it's way better. It's a lot more friendly to use. It is a lot more kind to programmers.