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path: "/my-5-programming-language-recommendations-for-beginners" title: "My 5 Programming Language Recommendations For Beginners" published: true date: "20-10-2018"
I remember when I first began programming I wasted a lot of time searching for the perfect language when what I should have been doing is learning how to program. The blog post hopes to reduce the time you waste by giving you five recommendations for first programming languages that you cannot go wrong with, you can try them all out but ultimately you should stick with one.
Before you give the language up and decide to transition on to your next language, you should learn at least these things: variables, lists/arrays, "conditional logic" (if, while), loops (especially the for loop), and functions. These are the programming concepts I use time and time again and tend to be the same across programming languages - once you become familiar with these concepts, you will be capable of a programming technique called "procedural programming".
Your first programming language is not your end goal. Do not think that the first programming language you learn is the one you will be writing for the rest of your life, this is not the case. When you are just starting out, your goal is more learn how to program as opposed to just learning the rules of a particular language - ah hell use Scratch if you really want to. Ultimately, you are just practicing how to take a problem, break the problem down into manageable chunks, and tackle the problem in a logical and structured way.
Each of these languages has a massive community, and with the exception of Visual Basic, a lot of job opportunities. They are also generalist languages which means you can utilize them within various domains (game development, web development, desktop development, potentially mobile development [though not recommended until you are really comfortable]). And they do not have overly intimidating "syntax".
Visual Basic is a language made by Microsoft and is easy to get up and running thanks to the simple installation of a super powerful (perhaps one of the most popular) integrated development environments (fancy word for a text editor) known as Visual Studio IDE. This language reads very much as something called "program design language" - which is just a fancy umbrella term for popular programming constructs without syntax.
This was an extremely popular language (and still is) for both hobbyists and professionals, many big companies have utilized this language. It is incredibly easy to learn because it is probably the closest language to English on this list.
All of these languages are popular, but if you have asked Google what your first programming language should be, then it is this one. Python is at the forefront of a massive trend called "data science". Google and various other companies make extensive use of Python. This programming language tries to encourage structure without making you want to throw the computer out the window. I believe this or JavaScript was my first programming language - well, actually my first programming language was a niche language called GameMakerLanguage.
JavaScript, is commonly referred to as the language of the web, but really it should now be known as the language of the web and so much more. This language is highly accessible, seriously, all you really need is a web browser. Note that this language is notoriously known for being a royal pain in the backend, but it is still being developed to this day and is becoming less and less of a pain to work with each day - I love this language, I am so productive with it.
This one is probably the hardest language to learn on this list, but if you find yourself in need of a challenge and love the theoretical aspects of computer science, then this is a pretty good pick.
There are various other languages I chose not to mention as they are simply too much of a "niche" language, do not yet have the appropriate community, or are just a bit too challenging for a beginner to get started with. Honorable mentions include Swift, a programming language developed by Apple used to develop IOS/OSX applications, and can also be used in server side (backend) web development thanks to IBM. Go (or GoLang), a language commonly associated with Google also for server-side development. And PHP - yet another language for server-side development that can be used within HTML to reduce repetitiveness - loads of jobs, loads of hate.