What computer programming language should I learn?

Question

I want to learn a programming language to run simple organic algorithms for testing out different design possibilities for parts of inventions I'm working on. Sounds more complex then it would be. Also might want to write some very small stand alone apps in the future (just for fun just little things).

Whats a good, common, fairly universal, language that I could grab a book and pick up the basics of?

Also any book recommendations for a newbie would be great too.

Answer 1

If this is your first programming language, then I would suggest Python as a starting point. It runs on any platform ( Windows, Mac, and many flavors of Linux), you can learn some useful mechanics of the language in VERY little time (the quickest of any language I've ever encountered), allows you to quickly write up new code and test it with a relatively small amount of effort, and there's plenty of resources online for you to learn from. There is a vibrant online community that will allow you to learn and grow your knowledge of the language, so you won't have to waste money on books. Just start at www.Python.org to download an installer of the language, and find one of the many helpful tutorials on the website to get started. You can always use Google to find more specific information, if needed.

Answer 2

There is no absolute, universal 'easiest' language. Some are easy for some people to learn but not so easy for others, and vice versa. Python is one of the easiest to learn and highly recommended for beginners. BASIC is also fairly easy to learn, but some people believe BASIC teaches programmers bad habits and should thus be avoided; I'm undecided on that myself. Pascal is about the same as BASIC, at least based on what I remember from my short fling with it. C is a little more difficult (but nice and powerful), and C++ is a little more difficult than that (OOP can be ugly to learn for a beginner). Some flavor of assembly might be considered 'most difficult,' but it's really just time-consuming to code in. You also have to be very careful about using your data in its proper context, otherwise you can get wildly unpredictable results (some are just wrong while others can corrupt other data or even crash your system). I actually prefer assembly because it removes all the abstraction other languages introduce. I can handle thinking procedurally better than an OOP approach. You could also do programming with a hex editor, if you are so inclined. That would probably be the most difficult approach short of using binary. To do that you'd probably have to write your own compiler/assembler, and you'd have to have either an excellent memory or a very thorough yet well organized reference manual.

Answer 3

Hello;



There are a great number of good programming languages out there -- Perl and Python are very good. I suspect Java isn't that hard once you get in to it. These are modern languages that have some great uses in online programming. I don't know either of them personally -- I am speaking about their reputations.



From my own knowledge ... I would stay away from C! It is hard, and Cobol is just plain torturous (you write a lot of code before anything happens).



A whole generation of programmers started with Basic and considering that it was designed as a teaching aide to get kids interested in programming it is very simple and easy to understand (Not Visual Basic). The regular old command line Basic is a lot of fun to play with!



Visual Basic is still used! I find it very difficult myself ... but if one learned it first, it would be a good language.



Another programming language that was designed to teach programming was Pascal. It was very powerful and popular, but over time it just faded away. I am not sure if there are current versions available for Windows or not.



Now comes the real advice ... I use to program professionally, but I haven't typed line of real code in years! If you want to just crunch numbers then learn MS Excel ... it won't be pretty, but as far as getting the math done goes Excel is wonderful. Not only will it do the work but it is a good skill set to have in the future. On the resume most employers know what MS Excel is -- saying you understand Cobol, or C ++ just confuses most people.



As far as books go -- the "Dummies books" are rather good -- the two on C got me through the class. For the most part they are excellent beginners books!



Best of luck,



Bill

Answer 4

I thought perl was mainly used for server side coding...

If you want to build any programs or apps, I would go with C# it is great!

You can visually see where buttons and text fields go, without having to type out any code.

Another one you may want to look into is, Java. But i'd prefer C# over Java any day. It is easiest to do GUI stuff in C#

Answer 5

I'd go with Perl. And "Learning Perl".



http://www.amazon.co.uk/Learning-Perl-Randal-Schwartz/dp/0596520107/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1234729810&sr=8-1