7 replies to this topic

[ricevision]

so i have just a few questions... what is a good type of language to start with? and also are some computers better than others or will they all just work? thanks for the advice

[WingedPanther]

It depends on your operating system and what you want to do. PHP is good for web, you can get a huge argument over application languages.

[JCoder]

Depends strongly on what you are planning to program. Not every language is good for every task. I would recommend starting with some high-level general purpose language, because it won't restrict you to any particular application. You can create standard windows, web, console applications, games etc.

BTW: PHP is good only because of cheap hosting. There are many languages that enable to write web stuff lot faster and easier (e.g. Ruby with RoR or Python with Django or Java with JSF).

[Orjan]

well, PHP is also good for the enormous usage and great possibilities to help, it's an extremely well documented language and that it's specialized towards web scripting

[dargueta]

I'd say Visual Basic or Java is good for getting your feet wet. Visual Basic is otherwise relatively useless, but Java works for web application programming and has some desktop usage as well, though that's not as common (I think).

[JCoder]

One more tip: Whatever you choose, take something SMALL and SIMPLE.

C is a good choice.
PHP is probably a good choice if you restrict yourself to structural programming only (keep away from OOP).
Java is a good choice.
Basic is a good choice.
LISP is good if you want to do it the functional way.

Keep away from bloated and overcomplicated 'multiparadigm' languages like C++ or Perl, at least at the start.*

*) This is not only me who says it. Great programmers like Guy Steele, Donald Knuth, Ken Thompson and Jamie Zawinski say the same.

E.g.:
"C++ is just an abomination. Everything is wrong with it in every way. So I really tried to avoid using that as much as I could and do everything in C at Netscape." - Jamie Zawinski

[dargueta]

I'd also advise staying away from OOP initially, but you're going to have to use it sometime, unless you're like me and like low level stuff that can't really use it. As far as LISP, I wouldn't recommend it too much until you've gotten comfortable with imperative programming.

[nexus-6]

I concur with above.. start small and simple. I'd suggest starting with an interpreted basic because you can experiment in real-time with that. Also Basic is in my experience one of the easiest programming languages for anyone good in english because the commands reflect natural language close enough to be easily understandable.