Which programming language should i learn?

Question

I am going to be a professional programmer but first i need to learn a programming language. which one should i learn, which oe is best, which one will be best for me in the long term... i really want to learn a language!!! wats better..(better dosnt mean easier) even if its the hardest... i just need to know!!! here is a list of good ones i want to choose from..

1. C
2. Java
3. C++
4. PHP
5. JavaScript
6. Python
7. C#
8. Perl
9. SQL
10. Ruby
11. Shell
12. Visual Basic
13. Assembly
14. Actionscript
15. Objective C
16. Lisp

Answer 1

I hope you are going to go to a four year school, you will have a VERY difficult time finding a job without any degrees.



As far as being a professional programmer, what kind of profession are you going to enter? Computer Science is a broad field, and programming languages are made to handle specific problems.



If you were to do systems level programming, you would need to learn:

C, C++, and Assembly. There is an assembly language for every processor

architecture. This means you need to focus on what you want to program for.

Intel is a common processor, and the language it uses is called x86. You

should know though, that assembly is being used less and less. Software

at the higher level is becoming much more important. I was at a job presentation by Intel a

few months ago and even some of the people there said that they are looking

for more software people.



If you are going to do mobile development(phone programming), learn:

Java(for Android), SQL, Objective C(for iPhone).



I often times see general programming positions. Basically for these you

use all of the Microsoft programming languages with database. You would learn:

C#, Visual Basic, Asp.net, .net, SQL, Oracle



I see Java being commonly used on the server side, which sucks because

most universities don't teach what Java is really used for. If you want to get

the most out of Java, you would basically learn Java Enterprise Edition.

Since Java is used for server-side applications, you would of course also

need to know databases like SQL and Oracle, as well as PHP, Ruby Rails,

HTML, and JavaScript.



I could be wrong but I think Python and Lisp are used for Artificial Intelligence.



Now what I told you is based on my knowledge, and from the local job postings

I have seen. I would highly recommend you look around at job postings in your

area, and do research into the different fields of Computer Science(or possibly

even IT, or Information Science, or general programming). Don't forget to look

into a four year degree as well. Don't stop here. Do more research, and maybe

even talk to people you know in the field, or e-mail people who teach at a local

university for assistance.

Answer 2

You mean, which one *first*?



I say, Java. It's a good general-purpose object-oriented language, easy to start, with built-in graphics, tons of ready-made libraries it comes with, and it's all platform-independent.



After that, it depends what you need. For Web development, PHP and JavaScript. For database development, SQL, with JSP or PHP for the user interface. To study computer science as a major, Lisp. To work as a programmer, C++. As an administrator, shell (sh, csh, ksh, bash). Maybe also Python for quick small projects.

Answer 3

C++, best language to start with if you're serious. Also, probably the hardest high level language to start with. It will give you the most solid foundation of all the languages, but it's going to be a rough beginning.



C, not a great language to start with. You will be missing out on OOP, which you should get a good idea of right off the bat. This is pretty arguable, it's not a bad language to start with, just not a great one.



C#, great language to start out with. Very powerful, very easy, very good language. However, if you take the easy route and just try to add stuff to forms, then this isn't going to do you any good. If you think you may start trying to take the easy route instead of learning the language, stay away from this one. It's only good if you know how to program in it, not add crap to forms.



Java, good language to start with. Platform Independent, widely used. Quite useful, but still has and will always suffer from efficiency issues. Most colleges in the US start Computer Science/Engineering students off on this.



Python, meh. It's a language. Not that widely used, but still a good language, different from almost everything else. I wouldn't suggest starting with this. Good language to pick up later on, but not as a beginner language.



VB, just don't. Seriously. Stay away from Visual Basic, or anything with "BASIC" in it's name for that matter. Bad habits, horrible language, completely useless. (VB has been widely replaced by C# anyway) No serious programmer in the world would use anything of the BASIC derived languages, for anything other than sh's and giggles.



Free Compilers/IDEs

C or C++ or C#: http://www.microsoft.com/express/Downloa…

Java: http://www.eclipse.org/



Every language has tons of tutorials just google the language with tutorial, IE:

"Java Tutorial"

"C++ Tutorial"

"C# Tutorial"

etc. etc.



There are thousands of tutorials for each.

Answer 4

If you want to learn the easy stuff, learn the basics - perhaps some C then PHP. If you want to learn the more serious stuff, especially the pure OOP, learn java or ruby.



It also depends on what career path you would choose - would you want to build just web sites, or web applications, or desktop applications, or enterprise applications, coz these languages have some benefites and limitations in those areas.

Answer 5

I would suggest JAVA. Java is Android’s main programming language. At present, Android platform growing at the incredible rate in comparison to other platforms, so every programming beginner wants to learn. Learn object-oriented programming concepts, Java fundamentals etc.

Answer 6

Java is an okay one to start with. It doesn't have all the tough stuff of C and C++, but it still gives you a more C-like experience than something like Javascript.

Answer 7

I would say from my experience of studying java and sql that they would probably be the best languages to learn as they are used widely in computing applications and problem solving so therefore you would get a lot of use out of them.



Best of luck

Answer 8

You can start learning from C, as it is basic one for any language make easy.



next you need to decide your goal which one you like most.



Go for PHP if you are more interested in web development



go for C#/.NET if you want to get good job and work on various domains.



One more thing you need to remember is a single language is not enough.



Learn, PHP/Javascript/mySQL

or

C#, .NET, ASP.NET, Javascript etc.

Answer 9

C++

Answer 10

I think you should start with Java, Python gives you bad habits.