Curious where to start?

[Incredaboy59]

So I have been wanting to learn coding for awhile now and was wondering/curious where should you start at? Java? C++? etc etc

[Irodo_BSMD]

So I have been wanting to learn coding for awhile now and was wondering/curious where should you start at? Java? C++? etc etc

I started with a bit of python and php, really easy and quite fun.

[LtStaffel]

If you want web programming, JavaScript, other than that, Python is my recommended first language.  codecademy.com teaches both

[Jade]

I started with Java. I know Python/PHP/a small bit of C#, amongst others.

 

I'd do Python (scripting, really) > some, not much Java > C.

If you want to do PHP -- PHP with Laravel is the best. I'd do that in between Java and C unless you have no intent of doing server-backend stuff.

[The Official Czex]

Start easy with HTML and CSS. After that, move up to jQuery, full-blown JavaScript, and Python. Once you have the main ones down, try branching into other coding languages like C# and PHP.

[LukeTim]

Start easy with HTML and CSS. After that, move up to jQuery, full-blown JavaScript, and Python. Once you have the main ones down, try branching into other coding languages like C# and PHP.

HTML and CSS are not coding. 

jQuery is also not a programming language, it's a JavaScript library.

I agree that JavaScript or Python would be a good starting point though. Easy enough for beginners to pick up. Python's strict indentation is especially good, imo, as it enforces good practices early on.

 

As others have said, codecademy is a good place to start.

Or you could check out Lynda.com, use offer code LINUS to get your first 10 days free!

[The Official Czex]

HTML and CSS are not coding. 

jQuery is also not a programming language, it's a JavaScript library.

I agree that JavaScript or Python would be a good starting point though. Easy enough for beginners to pick up. Python's strict indentation is especially good, imo, as it enforces good practices early on.

 

As others have said, codecademy is a good place to start.

Or you could check out Lynda.com, use offer code LINUS to get your first 10 days free!

 

@OP Just press Ctrl + Shift + I when in Chrome. Look at it and fiddle around with the lines of code.

[JefferyD90]

HTML and CSS are not coding. 

jQuery is also not a programming language, it's a JavaScript library.

I agree that JavaScript or Python would be a good starting point though. Easy enough for beginners to pick up. Python's strict indentation is especially good, imo, as it enforces good practices early on.

 

As others have said, codecademy is a good place to start.

Or you could check out Lynda.com, use offer code LINUS to get your first 10 days free!

why wouldn't html be coding?

[LukeTim]

why wouldn't html be coding?

 

It's a markup language. It's for declaring document layouts.

It is not compiled and executed on the CPU.

 

It also offers no way of manipulating data or performing logical operations. There's no ifs, no loops, no variables.

[trag1c]

why wouldn't html be coding?

It is a markup language not a programming language. You're basically describing the layout of a webpages but you never perform computations with it.

[JefferyD90]

It's a markup language. It's for declaring document layouts.

It is not compiled and executed on the CPU.

 

It also offers no way of manipulating data or performing logical operations. There's no ifs, no loops, no variables.

While I certainly don't consider HTML a programing language, it is still a form of coding.  It aligns a design up.  Its very easy, and by learning HTML you will have a great starting point on how to work in other languages.  I, for example, first learned how to do HTML and CSS then went on to learn C++, then Java, and now have my bachelor's in software engineering.  I can easily say that HTML allowed me to get use to the idea of coding and lining out commands, versus worrying about objects vs functions and so on.  It allows you to just play with "Hey I want this to be here and this to be here, and I want to edit this to include this" without worrying about adding libraries and other stuff that is really more advanced than needed for a first time programmer.

[Nuluvius]

While I certainly don't consider HTML a programing language, it is still a form of coding.  It aligns a design up.  Its very easy, and by learning HTML you will have a great starting point on how to work in other languages.  I, for example, first learned how to do HTML and CSS then went on to learn C++, then Java, and now have my bachelor's in software engineering.  I can easily say that HTML allowed me to get use to the idea of coding and lining out commands, versus worrying about objects vs functions and so on.  It allows you to just play with "Hey I want this to be here and this to be here, and I want to edit this to include this" without worrying about adding libraries and other stuff that is really more advanced than needed for a first time programmer.

 

I would argue that it's even more fundamentally different than that description. HTML/CSS markup language is information not instruction/function. In other words HTML/CSS really doesn't do anything. Unfortunately if one only knows HTML/CSS then that really does not make them a programmer.

[EpicAdom]

Python is a great language to start with if you don't have any particular aim. If you're looking specifically at web development learn HTML5, CSS3, and Javascript.

[Azgoth 2]

The question that's always worth asking: do you have some particular goal in mind?  Do you want to learn programming to make games, write programs, automate tasks, or just to have the experience of learning programming?  Or do you not have any idea?

 

If you have no programming experience and don't know where you want to go, start with Python.  It's easy to learn, easy to use, and has libraries that let it do pretty much anything you could ever need, and do it pretty damn well*.  It's probably the best language for "I need to get stuff done and get a lot of bang for my buck".  It has mind-boggling amounts of documentation and community support and professional support and tutorials out there, almost all for free.

 

*One of the biggest things Python is not well suited for is anything where you must have code that will run very quickly.  The normal version of Python is one of the slower languages out there for code execution time, but it makes up for that by being very easy to write in, which cuts down the time and effort of creating and maintaining code by a lot.  However, there are some projects that use different implementations of the language and can have some big speed improvements, e.g., PyPy.

 

If you want to get into software design or games or the like, Java is a good place to start.  It's probably the most widely used programming language in terms of both number of users (especially in industry) and common use cases.  Until the past few years, Java was usually the language taught in introductory coding courses, but now Python is pretty swiftly replacing it.  That said, Java is a fairly old and very mature language, with huge library support and massively widespread use in industry.

 

C++ is another super widely used one, and is especially good if you're aiming to get into software development/engineering.  It's pretty low level, not much higher than C, but is super widely used.

 

There's also Javascript for doing web coding, and Ruby for doing web design.  Ruby is very comparable to Python in a lot of ways, but is one of the languages of choice for web stuff.

 

If that was too much info: start with Python.  Once you figure out what direction you want to go in with programming, you can switch over to learning something more in that field.

[LukeTim]

While I certainly don't consider HTML a programing language, it is still a form of coding.  It aligns a design up.  Its very easy, and by learning HTML you will have a great starting point on how to work in other languages.  I, for example, first learned how to do HTML and CSS then went on to learn C++, then Java, and now have my bachelor's in software engineering.  I can easily say that HTML allowed me to get use to the idea of coding and lining out commands, versus worrying about objects vs functions and so on.  It allows you to just play with "Hey I want this to be here and this to be here, and I want to edit this to include this" without worrying about adding libraries and other stuff that is really more advanced than needed for a first time programmer.

I never said that there are not aspects that can help you with learning to program. I said it is not a programming language and therefore not coding.

There's (of course) a lot about mathematics that can help somebody learn how to program. But I wouldn't call just anybody who understands algebra a programmer.

 

I used to think the same as you. My first day at University my tutor asked what programming experience I had and I asked him if HTML/CSS counts. He said absolutely not. I have since learned why.

 

I think part of the confusion is the use of the word coding. It is used as a synonym for programming. I dislike it being used this way, personally, though I use it because most others do. To me programming is not really coding.

Coding is transforming data, and is more related to Information Theory. Video/image/audio coding, is what most would call compression. Unicode is character coding. Encryption is coding. There's also Error Correction Coding (as in ECC memory), which happened to be my favourite subject at university.

I much prefer to use the term programming.

[Paralectic]

HTML and CSS are not coding. 

jQuery is also not a programming language, it's a JavaScript library.

I agree that JavaScript or Python would be a good starting point though. Easy enough for beginners to pick up. Python's strict indentation is especially good, imo, as it enforces good practices early on.

 

As others have said, codecademy is a good place to start.

Or you could check out Lynda.com, use offer code LINUS to get your first 10 days free!

HTML is coding, it just isn't programming.

[LukeTim]

HTML is coding, it just isn't programming.

Depends what you mean by coding I suppose. I feel that most people (OP included) use it as a synonym for programming.

Perhaps I am mistaken.

[mynameajeff]

I started in Visual Studio, It is a great platform for beginner programmers. You can code in multiple languages but I suggest you start in Visual basic. Fun for the inner tinkerer and it really develops the skills you need to have to start in other languages. From Visual basic I suggest you go into Python or Java. 

 

Visual Studio has auto fill so you don't have to remember all the functions just yet and provides a easy way of compiling your code and running it within the program. It also will make you search for solutions on the internet whenever you are stuck or confused, and since it's a wide known program there is a lot of help out there! Anyway, have fun!

[Nuluvius]

I suggest you start in Visual basic.

 

...it really develops the skills you need to have to start in other languages. 

 

From Visual basic I suggest you go into...

 

 

[mynameajeff]

 

 

[Nuluvius]

-snip-

 

[LukeTim]

I started in Visual Studio, It is a great platform for beginner programmers. You can code in multiple languages but I suggest you start in Visual basic. Fun for the inner tinkerer and it really develops the skills you need to have to start in other languages. From Visual basic I suggest you go into Python or Java. 

 

Visual Studio has auto fill so you don't have to remember all the functions just yet and provides a easy way of compiling your code and running it within the program. It also will make you search for solutions on the internet whenever you are stuck or confused, and since it's a wide known program there is a lot of help out there! Anyway, have fun!

Whilst it's fine that it obviously worked okay for you, I would not recommend starting in an IDE. For two reasons.

Firstly, it is going to be overwhelming for most newcomers. IDEs have all sorts of features, options etc. which are fantastic for accelerating experienced developers' work, but are neither helpful nor necessary for people just starting out. Also, not having to remember all the functions when you're starting out is not a positive. It means you'll a: probably never remember because you'll be so used to autocomplete, and b: not necessarily ever learn how to research and read documentation for libraries, APIs etc. Not ideal for learning.

Secondly, I suppose somewhat related, is the fact that all the features and options in IDEs abstract away a lot of the stuff that's going on. For example, opening Visual Studio you are presented with options for templates, which give you some skeleton code to fill in. You may never understand fully what's going on from start to finish of your application because that's all part of the template VS gave you, not your own code that you had to wrap your head around. Similarly, will not learn an appreciation for the process compilation or building of projects. Something that I think is important. Not everybody needs to be an expert, but some experience is good.

After having learned to program. Then it is the right time to move into an IDE.

[PrimeSonic]

-snip-

After having learned to program. Then it is the right time to move into an IDE.

 

And this is very likely why they had us learning to program on old Turbo Pascal 6 compilers back in college.

 

Heck, a lot of us ended up writing our code in Notepad++ and then copying it into the compiler because the Turbo Pascal compiler, which barely qualifies as an IDE, didn't even have basic things like syntax highlighting.

 

As a professional in the field, I am thankful that I learned the fundamentals of coding using these ancient but useful tools.

After that, I have a proper appreciation and respect for IDEs like Visual Studio and the like that help you get past the boilerplate code and going straight into solving the task at hand.

[Saburoux]

I would suggest Perl as a good place start when it comes to programming. Its a very simple language to learn and it allows you a bit of freedom. Tutorialspoint(http://www.tutorialspoint.com/perl/)%C2'> is a great place to learn all the previous posters language along with Perl. Also two bits of advice one would be to download Notepad++ which is a great tool for writing code. The other being that the best way to learn code is by just doing it, so just drive right in and have fun with it. 

[xiej]

I personally recommend Javascript or Python, but it doesn't matter very much. Don't spend too much time worrying about it, you can always learn another one. JS and Python are pretty easy to learn and good for beginners, so consider that.