First programming langauge

[Trinity]

[font=\"Arial\"][b][size=7]First Time Choices – By Trinity[/size][/b]

One of the most daunting questions for a ‘newbie’ to the world of programming is which language to learn first. There are so many things that influence this decision, such as difficulty, user base, syntax and a number of other things. I will attempt to provide a little information and advice about your first steps into the large, scary world of coding.

Firstly, there are a few things you should know about the world of programming. There is an unofficial programming hierarchy. Although you may not be able to see it yet, people have ranked, and they are ranked by their skill, knowledge and respect. In forums, sometimes these ranks are displayed, but for the most part, you need to make up your own mind. As a ‘newbie’ you will be right at the bottom of this hierarchy, and you need to respect everyone above you, because at some stage it is likely that you will need some form of help from them. Understand that people are busy, and you are not their main priority. Be polite, don’t be arrogant or cocky, and you will be fine. Try and build up contacts and relationships with people in the community who can help you, and who you can help.

When asking questions, especially on forums, there are a number of things you need to remember.
[b]1) [/b]Google. Make sure that you have searched for the answer to your question before asking it, 75% of answers to questions that are posted on forums can be found on Google or various other resources, so make sure you look first.
[b]2) [/b]You need to be specific. If it is a technical question, provide error messages, things that you have tried etc in your question. Make sure that you state exactly what you are trying to achieve.
[b]3) [/b]If your question is not answered quickly, chances are people don’t know, or are too busy to answer. The polite convention on forums is to make a reply post to your question saying *bump* and people will try to answer it.
[b]4) [/b]If something works, or you solve the problem, tell the people on the forum, so people know that you appreciate their help, and also so that they are not searching for the answer after you have already got it.

Now to the issue at hand of choosing your language. There are a few languages that I recommend you avoid. BASIC, Pascal and LISP are languages that I think you should avoid due to the fact that they are largely outdated, and have been superseded by better, cleaner languages. I do not think that you should learn C, because it means doing a lot of low level coding such as memory management, which is really only needed for things like Kernel programming and 3D graphics when you need every part of your hardware. C# and C++ are also quite difficult languages, though they are some of the most widely used languages in the world.

Of the mainstream, popular languages that are left, I will provide a summary and my opinion on each language.

[b]HTML[/b] – I have included this although it is not in the same categories as the other languages that I am talking out because it is such an important language. I recommend that you learn HTML at the same time as the language you choose to start off with. HTML is actually a markup language that tells your screen what to display when it loads a webpage. Just knowing the basics of this language can help you invaluably on the web, understanding how it works and for creating your own web pages.

[b]Visual Basic[/b] – This is a very popular language from Microsoft. I advise anyone who is thinking about learning this language to learn something else first, then try Visual Basic. Visual Basic is Microsoft dependent, and has a lot of differences to languages that you will find on other Operating Systems or on the web. If you learn it first, you will find it a lot harder to learn non-Microsoft languages, especially ones that do not have GUI tools. That said, it is a fast, easy language to learn, and ideal for adding to your programming repertoire. Also note, that Visual Basic is not free, and you will need to buy to software from Microsoft.

[b]Python[/b] – Python is an amazing language. I am a little biased, because Python was the first language that I learnt (not counting mIRC and html). Python is recommended by a lot of elite coders because it is a very powerful language, yet is also quite easy to learn. It was very cleverly put together with a few quirky things unique to Python. The most noticeable of these is the fact that whitespace (indentation) is part of the Python syntax. You need to indent the code properly for it to work. While some people might think that this is a bit stupid, it is invaluable for ‘newbies’ because it teaches you to indent no matter what, and this will help you in every language that you use. Python has quite a large user base, with a lot of support and a growing library.

[b]Perl[/b] – Perl is a scripting language like Python, though more powerful and advanced. It is one of the most widely used languages across the web. It has a massive user base with lots of help communities etc. However, I think that Perl is probably a little hard for people starting cold in programming, and has a few annoying quirks that may prove to be a hindrance when you learn other languages.

[b]PHP[/b] – PHP is a server-side scripting language. It is relatively new in the world of programming, but is extremely popular. For anyone who would like to focus on the Web side of the computing industry, PHP is a good language to learn. It is not too hard, but I still think that Python is a better language to learn first off, as it will teach you habits that will help you in PHP.

If you end up choosing programming as a career path, or you take it very seriously, then it is likely that you will learn all of these languages. However, the order in which you learn them is important.[/font]

[Kobra]

Nice post, Trinity.. It's so true /biggrin.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':D\' />
I learned languages in a strange order, and I'm still suffering from it /blum.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':P\' />
mIRC -> HTML -> Visual Basic -> some C++ -> PHP
I'm currently learning Python, but I've been very busy lately *cough* /blum.gif\' class=\'bbc_emoticon\' alt=\':P\' />

[Kobra]

Another thing to note:
When learning a language, make sure you do it [b]properly[/b]. One of the biggest mistakes people make when learning languages is they skip past things and don't learn properly. I suggest you find a good tutorial and follow it step by step. Don't just jump into a language and expect to be good at it, because it will mess you up. Another thing to remember is good coding habits. You will read about these quite a bit, so take note of them because they will help you read your code, and will help others when reading it. Remember to use indentation, parenthesis, etc.