Posts Tagged ‘Start’

Question by Collin Martin: What programming language should i start with?
Ok, so i’m 15 years old. Ive tried programming in the past, and it was very hard for me. It struck my mind that i might have started out with the wrong kind of programming. Should i start with C++ ? Java?

If so , where should i learn it? Any book recommendations? Online free courses?

The type of programming i was hoping to do was something that would make me a bit of money, in case i ever needed it. What kind of programs would i have to code to do this?

Thanks for your time.

Best answer:

Answer by Meklar
C++ is a bad language to start with. It is low-level, quite cryptic, difficult to debug, and makes it very easy to shoot yourself in the foot.

Java is more forgiving than C++. However, it is still a compiled language and it also enforces a strict object-oriented paradigm (which C++ does not) which might be hard to understand at first.

I think it really depends what kind of learning curve you want and what you want to be doing with programming in the future. If you’re okay with spending a few years on the learning curve, you might want to start with something like Javascript. Javascript requires that you know a bit of HTML and CSS to use, and it is slow, but it is incredibly forgiving and easy to use and debug and it doesn’t require a compiler (it gets interpreted dynamically by a web browser). It also shares a C-like syntax which is good. Some people recommend starting with Python or Visual Basic, but I don’t think that’s a good idea myself because their syntax is not C-like and so in order to move on to Java or C++ you would need to relearn the syntax. On the other hand, if you really want to dive into the deep end you can go straight for Java or C++, but be careful you aren’t overestimating your own ability and patience.

What do you think? Answer below!