What Is The Best Programming Language to Start?

The truth is: the programming language you are going to start doesn’t matter too much. What really matters is to learn the concepts of programming. These are transferrable learnings from language to language and are essential to any programming language.

I learnt Java as my first programming language. I learnt for loops, while loops, conditionals, functions, Object-oriented programming and a lot of transferrable concepts.

However, it’s preferable to choose a language that it’s easy to get a first job in the area. For starters, these are the programming languages I recommend you to pick:

Python

Python is the most popular introductory language in the best U.S. universities. Just like JavaScript, Python is also flexible and it’s being used from building web applications to bioinformatics. I strongly recommend you to learn Python, it’s a great language to pick as a starter.

Java

Java is the most used language in the enterprise environment and for years it was the top-1 programming language according to the TIOBE index. Java is strongly and statically typed, which can turn easier to visualize some programming concepts.

As one of the most used languages, you’ll easily find Java courses and guides to help you in this journey. With Java, you can build server-side applications, Android apps and more.

Ruby

Ruby is my favorite programming language. It’s easy to write, easy to read and pleasant to work with. Just like JavaScript, it’s easy to learn but difficult to master. Ruby is widely used by many companies such as Airbnb, EBANX, Shopify, Twitter, GitHub and more. It has an awesome community that’s 24/7 ready to help online.

Ruby is famous by the Ruby on Rails framework, that can help you to build entire web applications with ease.

JavaScript

JavaScript is one of the most flexible programming languages I’ve ever used. You can use it to build console applications, desktop software, mobile apps, front-end development, back-end development and so on! It’s a great programming language and it’s easy to learn but hard to master.

I’d recommend you to learn and master JavaScript, but not as a first programming language. For starters, JavaScript can be hard to debug and it’s difficult to learn some concepts such as asynchronism, prototype, objects and more.

Don’t stick to languages

What you have to do by picking language to start is to learn the programming concepts. When you finish learning, you’ll be capable to learn any other programming language with a smaller learning curve.

If you want to learn how to learn a new programming language, consider reading my article “How to Learn a New Programming Language or Framework”. It will be really helpful.

How to Learn a New Programming Language or Framework

These are tips I use to beat the learning curve faster.

To keep track of my thoughts on technology, follow me on Medium and LinkedIn.

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