What is (are) the best programming language(s) for beginners?

[camuflage]

In your personal opinion which is (are) the best programming language(s) for beginners? There's always some discordance generated but it's interesting to debate and promote new ideas.

[Andre S. Veteran]

C# is, for the most part, not as big of an industry standard as C or C++ or Java for that matter. Why teach a student C# when very few employers actually develop with it? Personally, I find Java to be more widespread than C# and therefore makes it a better choice as a first language.

There are indeed more jobs for Java but it's not an order of magnitude greater. (see http://javablog.franksalinas.net/2008/11/22/java-vs-net-job-market-and-salary-survey/) A lot of employers use .NET and most .NET development use C#. Most of the in-house tooling I've seen was Winforms- or WPF-based. It's the language of choice for application development on Windows.

By half compiled half interpreted I meant that Java is not like most other languages which are either fully compiled (C / C++) or fully interpreted (Perl, Schene). Java is essentially both - even if it isn't a 50-50 mix, or 70-30 mix, or 99-1 mix, it doesn’t matter. The point is Java is neither fully compiled nor interpreted - it's somewhere in between. That statement was not meant to be 100% accurate.

Java is (usually) 100% compiled and 0% interpreted, no Java source code is processed at run-time. Bytecode gets translated to machine code on-demand by the runtime, but that is not "interpreting", it is "compiling" - JIT-compiling to be precise. Edited July 2, 2010 by Dr_Asik

[ajua]

For beginners I think Visual Basic is still the best.

If you want, you can continue to learn other languages after you master it.

C# is very good, I'm between Novice and Intermediate with it right now...

[jbrooksuk]

I write code in several of the above languages:

1. PHP
   
2. C++
   
3. Java
   
4. Python
   

I also use VB6 for work when needed.

Apart from those listed above, AutoIt is my next port of call. It's a nice BASIC like syntax language. Try it :)

[TechFreak:)]

For beginners I think Visual Basic is still the best.

If you want, you can continue to learn other languages after you master it.

C# is very good, I'm between Novice and Intermediate with it right now...

There is not much of a difference between C# and VB. And you can use both in the same project, so it's mostly about which programming syntax you prefer.

Personally I write code in PHP and Ruby for websites and C# for desktop programs. I'm also learning ASP.Net and ASP.Net MVC.

[Code149]

Basic....the name says it all

That, and the fact that its visual child VB can be used in a large range of software development spheres, since it's a natural .NET language.That means you get a language which is both easy to learn and also powerful enough to depend on for most types of software developments.

[nullie]

TC didn't specify when he was interested in developing exactly, but if web development is an interest, and it does open the doors to understanding most other languages and all the key concepts, PHP is my recommendation. It can also be used for a lot of things these days actually making this post pretty much moot, you can develop Windows apps, script command line tasks and do all sorts of stuff with it. Including design and print web pages and handle all related web quiries. :)

It's a very powerful language with a lot of built-in functionality for interaction with pretty much all major database, protocols, formats, etc which is why it's so great to work with, and it's not limited by that at all though.

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

That, and the fact that its visual child VB can be used in a large range of software development spheres, since it's a natural .NET language.That means you get a language which is both easy to learn and also powerful enough to depend on for most types of software developments.

Actually, its not a natural .NET language. It's a heavily bastardized version of the original VB that was created to encourage VB developers to migrate to .NET. Don't get me wrong, they did a good job for the mostpart, but its a language held back by its archaic roots (IMO). C# was the only .NET language initially.

[DrunkenBeard]

Prolog.

/thread

[+Majesticmerc MVC]

Prolog.

/thread

Oh you're cruel! :shifty:

[DrunkenBeard]

Oh you're cruel! :shifty:

Not as cruel as the 2 guys (or is it 1) who voted for Haskell and Lisp :pinch: Come on Haskell ? Seriously guys ?

[CentralDogma]

My stock response to "what's the best programming language?" :

You know, I've seen this topic pop up a lot here and other places. And I've come to the conclusion, it really doesn't matter. As long as you go on and learn more about programming, I don't think your first language is going to affect you all that much. Both have their pros and cons and one may solve a specific problem better than the other, but at the end of the day, it really won't matter which one you choose.

[Denis W. Veteran]

If we're going by the order of learning languages according to the curriculum of schools, here's how it looked like for me:

High school: Visual Basic 6 (now .NET) in Grade 10, then Java for Grade 11 and 12

University: For the University of Toronto, in engineering programs minus electrical and computer engineering, students learn C for their only programming course in their undergrad degree. In electrical and computer engineering they learn C++ in their first year. After that, not sure as I did a program switch. In computer science, the first year is Python and the second year is Java in the first term, then C in the second term.

I would say Java is the easiest practical language to pick up. Visual Basic 6 is easier but I can't tell you the last time I saw people writing applications in that, minus VBA. Didn't care for Python much (although not having to declare variable types is funny).

[Slipdisc210]

Its a bit of a dying language but COBOL was pretty cool when I got out of school. Damn, I feel really old now.

[Code149]

Actually, its not a natural .NET language. It's a heavily bastardized version of the original VB that was created to encourage VB developers to migrate to .NET. Don't get me wrong, they did a good job for the mostpart, but its a language held back by its archaic roots (IMO). C# was the only .NET language initially.

Well, you are right regarding how VB.NET shaped up and from what , that is VB6.But I presume that today VB is not any less .NET natural than C#; I can't back up that statement though as I haven't done any VB code, it's just an observation based on what I read here and there.

[pers3us]

I too support C#. Its fairly simple and u always have MSDN :D :whistle:

[DDStriker]

What, no assembly language?

I know what's the deal :s

for understanding how things work i'd say programming a pic chip/x86 asm/C or C++ or even better C++ with inline assembly

to get stuck straight into it perhaps VB (I personally dislike VB.net) and C#

I write code in several of the above languages:

1. PHP
   
2. C++
   
3. Java
   
4. Python
   

I also use VB6 for work when needed.

Apart from those listed above, AutoIt is my next port of call. It's a nice BASIC like syntax language. Try it :)

I quite enjoy VB6 despite it being old and unable to take advantage of newer technologies correctly its a good simple language that still has some use left in it but i wouldn't recommend it to a beginner in this day and age for anything else C++/asm does the trick and c# for work

[joemagoe]

For people who want to begin with immediate graphical results, Processing is an amazing language. It's easy think in its terms, and many people who I know that have used it didn't even refer to it as programming.

[StudioFortress]

It really also depends on what you mean by 'learning' a language. I'd be confident you could have someone writing Ruby code in far less time then say Java simply because of how much simpler it is to get running. You don't have to explain what 'public static void main(String[] args)' all means in your first breath. Yet personally I find Java code to be entirely straight forward to understand once you get over it's verboseness; whilst after several years of using Ruby I'm still baffled by some of the code I see on the Ruby mailing lists. I've also seen lots of programmers produce simple games in some of the beginner basic langauges (like Dark and Blitz Basic) who don't actually know how to define a function (and plenty who just refuse to use functions).

[Kestrel]

Suggesting to start on a harder, heavier language? Really?

I am keen to understand your thoughts further?

I agree with learning a non-memory-managed language first.

Memory management is an important concept in both managed and non-managed code-bases but the concepts are better learned in a non-managed language. Also, with a simpler language such as C, the emphasis is on learning the language rather than putting large framework libraries front and centre. There's a purity and simplicity to C that I think still makes it a perfect beginner's language.

[monkey13]

Java for me. Allows you to get a grasp of the higher level of OO programming and to think that way without worrying as much about the fiddly details.

I know a number of people who went from Java to C variants and the other way round and almost all of them agree that Java onwards is a good way. Some of the C to Java people had real problems (if I remember rightly with over engineering things that Java just did)

[El Marto]

i went Java -> C -> objective C and had no real problems. althought if i was to do it again id do C first just for a solid grounding in memory management. as its so crucial to some languages.