What is the best programming language to learn for a beginner?

Question

I'm a 13 year old student who's good at maths and loves his computers.

I've always wanted to learn a programming language but I just don't know which one would be a good one to start off with.

I do want to learn a mainstream programming language, one that would be useful. But I also don't want it to be too tricky, considering I don't know anything about programming. I've been considering C, C++, C#, Python, Java etc., but I don't know which programming language is the easiest, most useful, and overall best language to begin with.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P.S. I use a Mac only (not windows). So if that affects my choices, please tell me.

Answer 1

Hello,

I don't login so often to my Y! account but your question was very interesting.

Don't search for the easiest one, They are much or less the same.

Programming Concepts are exactly the same in every language but the biggest difference is in the syntax and features.

I believe you should start with something which you're comfortable with, i suggest to start with something that makes you're work easier through the features, built-in functions & libraries it offers.

C , C++ & Java are good & powerful programming languages but they are a little bit harder to understand in some aspects & also it takes a little until you can build something that is REALLY useful in real life,but it's my opinion anyway.

Python is also a good, simple & power full one but that's not my favorite although it is very useful.

IMHO PHP is a good starting point because:

1- It's platform independent Mac, Linux or Windows. The code is portable.

2- It's easy to learn & troubleshoot, full of features & very powerful.

3- Your programs results (Scripts actually) are shown in browsers, so it can be a cellphone, ipad, PC, Laptop or anywhere a browser available.

4- It works with many types of Databases be it MySQL or MsSQL or PostgreSQL or Oracle etc.

5-You can build websites with it. May be you'll be the next zuckerberg, Who knows? ;) altough it's a web programming language, you can even build, say a calutator, or a library management software (As i did weeks ago) with it which works in a browser.

7-It's a web programming language again! You're program (Script) can use many available APIs by the Giants of web for free, Y! ,Google, Facebook, Twitter and many others offer APIs so you can use THEIR services in YOUR programs, For free !

8-It's a web programming Language! Do you know what The Web means? it means where Ideas are more important than your age, your money or your college degree.

9-PEAR , It's a BIG collection of ready toprogramsramms which you can use in your code. Just arrange them to get the result you want. You'll know more when you got into it. :)

10-It's free & Opensource with very good resource available for free on the web, many experts to ask question & with good official documentation.



These 10 points, or even more apply to .NET framework, I mean C#, Which is microsoft programming language, But as you're on mac by now, May be PHP is a better choice.

P.S : It needs a little more work to learn & work with than PHP.

Good luck!

Answer 2

You're on the right path. Javascript is great and it's the best one to learn and most practical without getting complicated. Note that HTML and CSS aren't programming. What you are doing in those languages is creating a portfolio and modifying the text and pictures to look a certain way. The benefit of Javascript is you don't need a compiler therefore it can be displayed directly on a browser. The easiest language to learn is BASIC, but you won't get to apply it much to anything so you really won't be learning for much. BASIC and Visual Basic are mostly used in an office setting, like for storing files and such. Do you work in an office? I don't think you would. The problem with C, C++, and Objective-C is they are very practical, but only when you've taken the right mathematics courses such as Discrete math. You can build programs without knowing the math, but once you want to create the nice programs, then you need some math, and it's not something regularly taught in k-12, this is college. So to answer your question, Javascript no doubt. There is easily plenty of Javascript courses online.

Answer 3

I suggest you start with C.Its really good for beginners.

As to answer this part "The programming language is the easiest, most useful, and overall best language" :- Its, according to me, Java.

But Java gets really fun and easy to work with once you've done C.

So, once again i suggest you start out with C.

Answer 4

don't bother asking witch is the best to learn. everyone will have different answers. i personally like Java but someone else will say python. try out all of the main languages like the ones listed. in the source there is a good website to learn them.

also what you want to do will affect your decision.

Answer 5

hey hi

2 start with go for C 1st

dats easy for beginers 2 develop logic



side by side switch to VB 6.0 which is a GUI language

wen u get easy 2 C then opt 4 C#(Microsoft lang) or Java(Sun lang), both r gud

i suggest Java, its platform independent

Answer 6

I would say you should go for C++. There are simpler languages to learn; but C++ is widely used, it can be used for many things (from games to operating-system and device-drivers), and it's similar to C, C#, ObjectiveC (which I think is/was used on Mac) and Java. Mind you, this is if you want to program applications, not making script for web-pages and similar.



You should also check-out Nokia's Qt library, which makes it easy to make GUI-programs and it's RAD; Qt-designer.



Pascal is probably a better language to learn programming, as it forces you to use good methodology -- like enforcing a certain order of different parts of the program (constant-definitions, variable declaration, function definition). Delphi is a RAD based on Pascal (though AFAIK only for Windows).



Alas Pascal's popularity has dwindled, so if you want to learn just one language, learn C++. Though it *is* a good idea to learn several -- and several "types" of languages (C++ and Pascal is basically the same type) -- if you want to become a good programmer. You'll learn different techniques, and can choose the best tool (language) for the job.



RAD=Rapid Application Development. You *design* a GUI-program by interactively place the widgets (buttons, list-boxes, menus, ...) in a the different windows/dialogues the program is supposed to consist of. The RAD then provides skeletons for the different functions that should be run when actions (like a click) happens to those widgets. Most of the programming can thus be accomplished in that way. Much -- including how to stitch the parts together to one program -- is provided automatically by the RAD.



+++



C++ is an Object Oriented Programming Language, but sadly not a very good one. C++ is basically C with object-oriented stuff glued on top, while ObjectivePascal is Pascal with oo-stuff glued on top. C++ also lacks a comprehensive single class-hierarchy. Java is all OO, but is heavily influenced by C++. Java has a single class-hierarchy, but the primitive types (Integers, Floats, Chars) are defined outside of this. Also C# is too influenced by C++.



So to really see the beauty of Object Oriented Programming, you may want to try a language like Smalltalk. Everything -- including the language itself and all types -- are part of *one single* big class-hierarchy. It really shows how OO is supposed to work, and where half the job is to figure out the best place to insert a new class to take full advantage of it's parent-class. Programming in Smalltalk though, is very different from programming in C++.



+++



There are also scripting languages like Tcl with it's GUI-extension Tk (thus Tcl/Tk) and Perl which are great to make scripts for automating system administration and can also be used for programming scripts for web-servers. Python (similar to C++) and Ruby (similar to Smalltalk) can also be used for those tasks, and (at least) Python is also good to program GUI-programs -- including games. They are all great to make small scripts to get some routine work done.



LISP is yet a completely different type of language -- a list-based language, suitable for AI among other things. The Emacs-editor uses it for it's many functions and modes. Haskell and Scheme are basically the same as LISP. LOGO is a similar language, intended to learn computer-science to children (though perhaps younger than 13) and run the "turtle" -- a little robot that can draw figures on paper.



Ada was supposed to become the "universal programming language", and was for a while (still?) the required language for Government projects in the USA. It's a bit similar to Pascal. I wouldn't bother with it as a first language to learn.



Eiffel was the language introduced in a very popular book about programming, and is perhaps a very good language to *learn* programming in. Though AFAIK it's not very commonly used.



Assembly may also be useful. It's programming almost in machine-code.



+++



If you intend to program towards the web, learn PHP to make server-side scripts (though Perl, Python and Ruby can also be used). PHP is perfect to make database-driven sites. JavaScript is great to make interactivity on the client-side (programs run in the browser), and is used in "Dynamic HTML" (DHTML). Of course you must learn HTML/XHTML and CSS too, which is the language the actual web-pages are written in.



Java may be a bit slow, but it is often sought after by companies. It's OK for making stand-alone applications (though C++ is better), and great for making "applets" -- small programs that are downloaded from the web and becomes part of a web-page (like chat-clients or secure logins). If you plan to make web-pages, you should learn Java to supplement JavaScript.



+++



I would go for C++, perhaps with Qt. But maybe also look at Smalltalk to understand OOP better. Learning a scripting language -- like Perl or Python -- would also be useful to create "small stuff" in a hurry.