What is the easiest programming language?

Question

If you had little programming experience and want to delve into a programming language... what language would be the easiest to study ? ( Java, C++, Visual Basic, C# )

Answer 1

"easy" is rather relative, and it depends on if you mean easy to actually get to the point of doing something or easy in that you can master the whole language. You probably mean the second, but I suggest you go for the first option. Let me explain (sorry, it turned into rather a long answer - if you don't want to read through it, look at the links, they are all useful):



When you first start programming, your tenancy is to see this huge book or tutorial, and the advanced features start way at the back. The feeling you get is that you don't 'know' the language until you get there. A great illustration is from my son who, after playing with a friend who spoke Afrikaans (another language) for just a day said that he could now speak Afrikaans. Since that day he has played with many kids speaking that language and never doubted that he could. I can speak it much better than him, but I am still reluctant to say that I can. Same goes with programing.



If you learn a programming language, and believe that you can do stuff early on, you will. The basic rules and structure that you get in the first couple weeks are the things that you will do throughout the language. Spend more time making and less time reading tutorials and you will be able to learn any programming language. The Internet makes it so easy to fill in your knowledge where you need things for your programming projects. It is also much more fun to do stuff.



"Programming is an art. Don't spend all your time sharpening your pencil when you should be drawing" [quoted from www.tuxradar.com]



Having said all that, Python was (for me) really easy, even fun, to learn for a rather powerful language.



Another thing, if you find tutorials or programming books challenging, is to try something like Alice (www.alice.org):



"Alice is an innovative 3D programming environment that makes it easy to create an animation for telling a story, playing an interactive game, or a video to share on the web. Alice is a teaching tool for introductory computing." [quoted from their web page]



Having a specific goal may make one language preferable, and therefor easier. For example, when I first had the chance to start earning some money from web design, I had to learn PHP. I was really motivated, because it was something I really wanted to do. So I flew through it. If you want to make gui aps, it could by Python for you, or C if you are into robots and electronics.



The tutorial on 'freenetpages.co.uk' covers three language, including Python. Despite it's color (the page looks funny) it is a really good tutorial for learning Python. I worked right through it, which is something I don't often do with tutorials.



I learned PHP from the tuxradar site, and still refer to it all the time.

Answer 2

Of the three you listed Visual Basic is the easiest. BASIC stands for Beginner All puprose Symbolic Instruction Code it is a language that was designed for a beginner, its name says it all.

Its not impossible to start with C or the C like Java languages but you will have a slightly steeper learning curve.





I am not saying that VB is the only language you should learn but rather use it at a starting point to learn some programming concepts. One thing that makes VB easier is its ability to easily handle strings (a fancy way to say it can easily handle groups of letters that make up sentences). At least one semester of VB to start with, which will give you an understanding of :



Conditional vs unconditional branching

data types

Variables and Arrays

string and character handling including concatenation

Input / Output



If you don't understand these concepts right now then it will increase your work load if you jump into C. C handles strings as character arrays and many courses start C instruction by writting and reading text to a DOS like window called the console which requires string handling and concatenation.



Also the VB commands are little easier to read and are a little more english like which for an absolute beginner are easier to understand. Here is an example of BASIC vs C++ both do the same thing which is to repeat (loop) a section of code a certain number of times. Now ask yourself as an absolute beginner which is easier for you to read and understand?



VB Code:

For X = 1 to 10

'more code goes here

Next X



C++ code

for( int x=1; x<11; x++)

{

//more code goes here

}



Another reason to start with VB is supose that you decide to not continue with the study of other languages. VB is used as the MACRO engine for many programs like MS Office. So if you at least learn a little VB and never go into full blown programming at least you will have some skill in writting MACROs in other programs to make your life a little easier.

Answer 3

In Computer Science, the first language taught nowadays is commonly Java. C definitely gives you more in depth understanding of programming, but it is not easy to pick up without some structured lessons, and could take the fun out of it for a newcomer. Visual Basic is not a programming language. =P

Answer 4

I think it has to be c or c++. My teachers used to tell me that it is the foundation on which all other programming language are based.

Answer 5

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