Learning to code is a long, difficult journey – and if the first few hundred kilometers go in the wrong direction, you will probably cancel the journey and sit on the couch. So you should think carefully about which programming language you start with.
SELECTION CRITERIA
Choosing the best programming language to get started can be fixed at many points – and there will never be a clear answer. Are you looking for a language that is particularly easy to learn? A language for a specific area of application? Should it give you the best job opportunities? Or maybe the maximum salary? Or should it be the most popular? The most popular? Depending on how your answer is, a different language is likely to pop up. And even there are different sources with not always the same results. But well, let’s try to find recommendations for a couple of these areas. A good source is, for example, the Stack Overflow survey.
As far as popularity is concerned, there is a clear announcement here: JavaScript is ahead with 62.5 percent, followed by SQL with 51.2 percent. But is this helpful for you? Only conditionally: SQL is simply used for databases everywhere and is not suitable for general programming entry at all. JavaScript, on the other hand, could be interesting.
The most popular language among survey respondents is Rust, but this only applies to coders who are already working with it. Under “Most Wanted” Python and, again, JavaScript are in places 1 and 2. On the other hand, 40 percent of respondents say they would rather not continue to work with JavaScript – a statistic in which Python only appears much later.
You want to edit a specific area? Then it becomes difficult. PHP, for example, is passionately hated because technically it’s not really good. On the other hand, most of all websites consist largely of PHP code! As a web developer, you’ll hardly get around it at some point. Do you want to develop programs that run as perfectly as possible and get into computer science properly? Then the classic C, the much more practical C++, but above all Java. All three languages are very powerful, allow for the most basic work and are also very popular in the commercial environment. Java is quite suitable for getting started, C not at all and C++ only for those who really, really mean it!
Now it’s really exciting: are you looking for a language that is easy to learn? Here there are two acquaintances as clear winners, for example, if you look at what is used for programming courses at American universities: Python and Java are clearly ahead here. Matlab for mathematical matters as well as C and C++ follow, but these are increasingly replaced by Java. With all these many keywords, three candidates keep popping up: JavaScript, Java, and Python.
PYTHON
Python has basically established itself as an egg legend woolly milk sow in recent years. You will find discussions in many places on the net, whether Python is a scripting language or a “real” programming language, but you can make it easy: The inventor of Python, Guido von Rossum, calls Python a “universal general purpose programming language” and that fits. You can use Python to write small scripts for everyday admin use, but also monolithic desktop programs for customers.
The Python code remains relatively easy to read, which helps a lot to get started. In addition, there are free learning materials free of all; Whether you’re looking for an introduction to a specific topic, entire online tutorials, programming tools directly in the browser, or desktop training programs, you’ll find a wide range of choices. But even after the learning phase, if you want to become productive, the Python world supports you, among other things with many useful, free libraries. Such libraries include standard features that not every Python developer needs to reinvent every project.
JAVASCRIPT
There are, of course, also developers who are less interested in the whole cosmos of programming than in business and design. So if you’re more interested in knitting fancy, interactive websites or maybe starting your own start-up as a business student, JavaScript isn’t a bad alternative. The professional opportunities are also very good, because JavaScript developers can probably start in almost any web service provider office, even the smallest. Basically, the same applies here to Python, thanks to a huge community.