Slant community chat on DiscourseEither for hobby or as a real opportunity to find a job, with countless resources on the internet (most of them free), learning a new programming language has never been as easy as it is today. But even with the overwhelming information that’s out there, choosing a programming language to learn can be a daunting task. Especially if it’s the first language that someone is learning.
A good programming language to start with should be one that teaches best practices and common paradigms and designs that can be found on all other languages. Some people may prefer a language that has a clearer syntax, like Python for example others may prefer a language that is more verbose but that teaches a lot on what is happening “under the hood” like C. Languages that have an easier syntax especially have a lot more tutorials and resources to learn for beginners than languages that may be a little more complex as syntax goes.
One should also keep in mind that a programming language is just a tool to be used, and as such every language out there has it’s strengths and weaknesses and is better suited at a certain thing rather than others. So for example, JavaScript is essential to anyone who wants to learn web development, C++ is widely used by game developers worldwide, Java is needed for Android development and so on. So another thing to keep in mind is the area where you want to focus and that also should influence your choice.
| 60 Recommended Products | Recommendations | Current stable version | Site | GZipped size |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| #1 Python· · · | 393 | 49 | 3.6.1 | https://www.python.org/ | 22.5MB |
| #2 C· · · | 158 | 73 | – | – | – |
| #3 JavaScript· · · | 181 | 102 | – | https://ilovecoding.org | – |
| #4 Ruby· · · | 97 | 46 | 2.4.1 | https://www.ruby-lang.org | 13.5 MB |
| #5 Smalltalk· · · | 29 | 13 | – | – | – |
| #6 Scheme· · · | 60 | 30 | – | – | – |
Pro Clear syntax
Python's syntax is very clear and readable, making it excellent for beginners. The lack of extra characters like semicolons and curly braces reduces distractions, letting beginners focus on the meaning of the code. Significant whitespace also means that all code is properly and consistently in...
Pro Easy to get started
On top of the wealth of tutorials and documentation, and the fact that it ships with a sizeable standard library, Python also ships with both an IDE (Integrated Development Environment: A graphical environment for editing running and debugging your code); as well as a text-based live interpreter.
Pro Lots of tutorials
Python's popularity and beginner friendliness has led to a wealth of tutorials and example code on the internet. This means that when beginners have questions, they're very likely to be able to find an answer on their own just by searching. This is an advantage over some languages that are...
Con Language fragmentation
A large subset of the Python community still uses / relies upon Python 2, which is considered a legacy implementation by the Python authors. Some libraries still have varying degrees of support depending on which version of Python you use. There are syntactical differences between the versions.
Con Does not teach you about data types
Since Python is a dynamically typed language, you don't have to learn about data types if you start using Python as your first language. Data types being one of the most important concepts in programming. This also will cause trouble in the long run when you will have to (inevitably) learn and...
Pro Understanding of computers
Learning C forces you to grapple with the low-level workings of your computer (memory management, pointers, etc.) in ways that the other languages abstract away. Without an understanding of these low-level aspects of computer programming you will be limited if you try to develop an application that
Pro Industry standard
C is the industry standard programming language, moreover, it is the most popular programming language to use. C is the language used for most Windows, UNIX and Mac operating systems.
Con Languages is full of corner cases and undefined behaviors
Undefined behavior in a program can cause unexpected results, making it hard to debug. With UB, program behavior may vary wildly depending on optimization settings. There are many cases that invoke UB, such as signed overflow, invalid dereferences, large integer shifts, uninitialized variables, e...
Con C will require you to learn concepts too advanced for most beginners
While other programmers will learn algorithms and structures and will do magic tricks and awesome applications, you will learn trash info that you should know maybe after 5-7 years experience in software development, not earlier. It's like going the first time as a seven year old kid to first...
Pro No installation required
If you run a web browser you already have JavaScript installed and can get started right away. Modern browsers such as chrome also have very powerful programming consoles built into them. Aside from the browser console, you can also use online javascript playgrounds such as JS Bin and JS Fiddle....
Pro Required for web development
If you are looking to create web projects you will have to learn Javascript in order to develop the client side code. If you learn the foundations of programming in JavaScript you can reapply that education later in building web application.
Con Many errors pass silently
JavaScript looks for every possible way to treat the code you write as runnable and is very reluctant to point out likely errors. For example, you have call a function with too many arguments, the extra arguments are simply discarded.
Con Complex
JavaScript has a long litany of warts and gotchas. JavaScript will bite you if you're just a wee bit careless. You have to exercise a great deal of caution and awareness. You either have to know the entire 545-page ES6 spec to avoid them all, or use a linter to help restrict you from using the...
Pro Clean syntax
Ruby has a very clean syntax that makes code easier to both read and write than more traditional Object Oriented languages, such as Java. For beginning programmers, this means the focus is on the meaning of the program, where it should be, rather than trying to figure out the meaning of obscure ch...
Pro A large ecosystem of tools & libraries
Ruby has a large ecosystem of tools and libraries for just about every use. Such as ORMs (Active Record, DatabMapper), Web Application Frameworks(Rails, Sinatra, Volt), Virtualization Orchestration(docker-api, drelict), CLI tools(Thor, Commando), GUI Frameworks(Shoes, FXRuby) and the list goes on.
Con Its ecosystem is limited outside of web development
If you're looking to host, generate, manipulate or secure a website, Ruby is your language. There's also some great support here for infrastructure as code work via Chef. However, it just doesn't have the depth and breadth that Python does. Things like native UI development, high pe...
Con Meta-programming causes confusion for new developers
The ability for libraries to open classes and augment them leads to confusion for new developers since it is not clear who injected the functionality into some standard class. In other words, if two modules decide to modify the same function on the same class can introduce a number of issues. Mai...
Pro Environment of live objects
You can modify the system as it's running. You're "swimming with the fish", instead of probing a black box by remote control.
Con Not common
Smalltalk and its implementations are no longer popular languages to use. Commercial development is scarce (but does exist), and online communities are relatively small. There is little to no modern books or resources made for the language, although older, very good books do exist.
Con Virtual machine in its own isolated world
Smalltalk wants to be the whole OS. While this has tremendous advantages internally, interacting with the world outside the VM is not so easy.
Pro Great, well known textbooks
There is a set of very strong textbooks introducing CS and programming using Scheme. These books are available for free online. The most famous example--and one of the most famous CS books full stop--is Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs usually known as SICP. This book introduces...
Pro Simple syntax
Scheme syntax is extremely regular and easy to pick up. A formal specification of the syntax fits onto just a few pages; it can be introduced informally in a paragraph or two. Students are not distracted by remembering how to write if statements or loops or even operator precedence because every...
Con Little Market Search
There are little to none jobs searching for a Scheme programmer. The ones that exist are more related to Research in Maths or Artificial Intelligence.
Con Fragmented ecosystem
Scheme is an IEEE standard, not an implementation. Unfortunately, the standard is too minimal and practical implementations have diverged--they had to expand on the standard to get anything done, but did so in incompatible ways. The later de facto standard R6RS tried to correct this, but lost Sc...
Pro Exceptionally simple and scalable multithreaded and concurrent programming.
Simply prepend a function with go to execute it concurrently. Utilizes channels for communication between goroutines which aids to prevent races and makes synchronizing threads effortless. The maximum number of threads to use may be defined at compile time, even if that is limiting goroutines to r...
Pro Great team working behind it
Go has a solid team of engineers working on it (some of the best networking engineers in the world are working on Go). Up until now, the great engineering of the language has compensated for its lack of power.
Con Designed to make the programmer expendable
Go was designed for large team projects where many contributors may be incompetent. That Go can still get things done under these conditions is a testament to its utility in this niche. Go's infamously weak abstraction power is thus a feature, not a bug, meant to prevent your teammates from do...
Con Expects prior familiarity with tooling, "advanced" OS use
A standard step of even installing Go is modifying your path -- a person who's encountering their first language might not even understand. It's hard to escape using Go without familiarity with using build tools, managing and organizing project directories, etc. It's not as simple as P...
Pro Incredibly Well-Engineered Language
Where other languages invoke the feeling of being a product of organic growth over time, C# just feels like an incredibly well-designed language where everything has its purpose and almost nothing is non-essential.
Pro Supports some functional features
C# is primarily object-oriented, but it also supports some features typically found in functional languages such as lambdas, delegates and anonymous classes. Methods can be treated like any other object, and the Linq query system operates on monads with lazy evaluation (though it hides this with a...
Con Complex syntax
Too many syntactic constructs to learn before it becomes usable.
Pro Fantastic IDEs
Because Java is statically typed, integrated development environments (IDEs) for Java can provide a lot more feedback on errors you will encounter. Java IDEs can give you specific errors in the location where they occur without having to run the code every time. This makes is faster to debug and l...
Pro Most commonly used language in industry
Java is one of the most popular languages in industry, consistently ranking either first, or occasionally second (behind C or Javascript) in terms of usage. Polls (see sources below) show it to be consistently in high demand, particularly as measured by job board postings. This makes Java a great...
Con Too verbose
A Hello world needs package, class, static method and the actual printf. Reading a line from input requires instatiating 5 objects in the right order. Exceptions are everywhere, particularly since all values are nullable. Java has a getter/setter culture, but without native syntax suppo...
Con Confusing mis-features
Some features in Java can be quite confusing for beginners. Encapsulation is needlessly obfuscated with a confusing access control model. As an example, the "protected" keyword not only grants access to child classes, but to the entire package. Since small programs are written as one p...
Pro Terse syntax
The Dart syntax is compact, free of clutter, and well readable.
Con Not widely used
Used mainly by a bunch of enthusiasts and Google.
Con Not suited for low level tasks
This is where other languages like C and Go shine.
Pro Object-Oriented
In Pharo everything is an object. Compiler - object, network - object, method - also an object. And objects communicate with messages. No operators, no control-flow statements. Just objects and messages. Few things to learn, but you can learn OOP well.
Con Small community
But they are very friendly and supportive. Best help comes through the mailing lists so not always easily googlable. There is also a Slack community where help is nearly instantaneous.
Pro Visual
Code is represented as visual building blocks that makes it easy to understand how a program is put together.
Pro Great starting point for kids
Scratch was developed specifically for kids ages 8 and up as an exciting way to introduce them to technology. It's designed to be easy to learn, but still provides good depth in computational thinking.
Con Won't get you a job
Scratch is not a language used in the workplace. Instead it teaches computational thinking, helping to create a foundation to aid in learning other languages.
Con Does not teaches you programming
Learning Scratch might help you if you have high difficulty with logical thinking. However, starting with a proper programming language, especially an easy one, will give you the benefits of starting with something like Scratch and everything else.
Pro Clean syntax
Easier to both read and write.
Con Not that popular
This language doesn't have the widespread support and communities that other languages such as Java, C/C#/C++, JavaScript, etc. have.
Con Needs previous programming experience
The benefits of the language might not be obvious for a first learner.
Pro Simplicity as a pillar of culture.
Simplicity is one of the pillars on which Clojure is built. Clojure tries to solve many problems in software development as simply as possible. Instead of building complex interfaces, objects or factories, it uses immutability and simple data structures.
Pro Designed for concurrency
Since Clojure is designed for concurrency, it offers things like Software Transaction Memory, functional programming without side-effects and immutable data structures right out of the box. This means that the development team can focus their energies on developing features instead of concurrency...
Con Confusing error messages
Clojure's error messages more often than not are very confusing. They usually involve stack traces that do not thoroughly explain where the error was caused or what caused it.
Con Depends on Java for basic tasks
Clojure chose not to re-implement all of Java's standard library, and depends on it for some basic tasks. This means beginners have to learn some Java too, because they must interoperate with it to make Clojure work.
Pro Embeddable
Many different game engines (e.g. Elder Scrolls series, ToME) use Lua for scripting, and it's runtime is designed for embedded use.
Pro Fast and lightweight
Lua is light and faster than most other scripting languages, especially with LuaJIT, a Lua compiler that can even run code faster than some compiled programming languages in some cases.
Con Prototype-based inheritance
Lua features a prototye-based inheritance model. While this is also used by Javascript, it's not used by many other mainstream languages, and so some of the concepts learned while learning Lua won't be very applicable to other languages.
Con 1-indexed Arrays
Defying conventions from most other programming languages, Lua uses arrays that start at 1, rather than 0. While seemingly beginner friendly, this can complicate some logic, and sets beginners up for confusion when looking at code from other languages.
Pro Powerful tooling
Tooling assists new developers with language semantics and getting code built
Pro Understandable error messages and other feedback
Error messages are carefully formatted with color highlighting and indicators. Errors also come with hints on how to fix problems.
Con Limited amount of libraries
Third party library documentation is hosted on package.elm-lang.org, where you can find what's around. Compared to other languages, on the web or otherwise, there aren't very many libraries. Again a young language problem.
Pro Terse
Haskell is a very terse language, particularly due to its type inference. This means there's nothing to distract from the intent of the code, making it very readable. This is in sharp contrast to languages like Java, where skimming code requires learning which details can be ignored. Haskell&#...
Pro Referentially Transparent
Haskell's Purely Functional approach means that code is referentially transparent. This means that to read a function, one only needs to know its arguments. Code works the same way that expressions work in Algebra class. There's no need to read the whole source code to determine if there&#...
Con Difficult learning curve
Haskell lends itself well to powerful abstractions - the result is that even basic, commonly used libraries, while easy to use, are implemened using a vocabularly that requires a lot of backround in abstract mathematics to understand. Even a concept as simple as "combine A and B" is ofte...
Pro Huge language supports most everything
C++ is a large language with an even larger community and following. It has libraries for every kind of task that is possible to do with C++
Pro Teaches fundamental OOP
Teaches you to leverage object oriented programming.
Con Huge language gets in the way of learning
C++ is such an atrociously over-complicated language that its learning curve may get in the way of learning fundamentals. Learning C++ well is a ten-year project, and even experts are frequently surprised by the language.
Pro Excellent development environment
Racket includes a good environment for beginners called DrRacket.
Pro Compatible with Scheme proper
There are Scheme-compatibility dialects for Racket. See https://docs.racket-lang.org/guide/standards.html, https://docs.racket-lang.org/r5rs/index.html, and https://docs.racket-lang.org/r6rs/index.html.
Know any negative aspects of this option?
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