
Ask HN: Are Python and JavaScript the simplest programming languages? - Onixelen
And good for learning to program and how to how to make things and transition to other languages.<p>Their syntax seems simpler than that of Java.
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misterhtmlcss
JavaScript. Hands down.

And here is my reasoning. I was trying to learn Python btw and can agree, it
appears to be an easy language to learn, but being as I gave up on it I can't
comment further comparatively. What I can say is why I changed and you can
decide if my reasoning suits you too.

Firstly JavaScript is super easy to visualize. When you code something in
Python it remains something abstract. Like how do I take data from a form?
Well you need to build a front end (HTML et al) then you need to install
stuff, run an Apache server, etc. This is all just to get some visual clue to
coffee you wrote.

Secondly, there is largely one version of JS and it's the JS that every
browser uses, sure there is ES6, but 90% of the videos out there are on the
previous versions that make up basically everything that's not bleeding edge.

Python has two distinct versions and they are different and the books that are
designed for newbs don't (usually) communicate which version they rely on and
teach. Totally crap if you are new and forced to make a largely random, but
substantial decision right away. Frustrating too when you buy (and realize
afterwards) that your two beginner books that your are pouring through are
teaching two different versions that aren't compatible in many many ways.
That's hard on a new user for sure.

Lastly there are a ton and I mean like maybe hundreds of thousands of videos
and learning resources on JS. It's crazy! Plus there are some seriously big
organizations that are sinking some serious bills into adopting and extending
it in the server and browser. For instance Facebook and Google; mortal
enemies, even collaborated on a platform that materially solves problems for
the developer community.

It's crazy what's going on in the language and from a search point of view it
literally crushes everyone else.

Honestly I'll tell you this; I don't care a JS about JS, but I am keen to
learn and I'm super keen to make progress and to me JS seems to embody the now
and the nearish future for many careers and opportunities in web/software
development.

Also FYI you can build stuff fast with Ruby on Rails (RoR), but as was pointed
out, there is lots to know afterwards. That being said I'm learning the pieces
of software language structures eg. For loops, etc through JS then I'm onto
RoR so I can launch some basic ideas very quickly and see what happens ;)

Good luck in your choice and hey don't sweat which one you pick, but don't be
an outlier either, not for language number 1.

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amorphid
Things that made me choose Ruby as my first language:

* a lot of companies in my area were using at

* I knew a lot of people using Ruby, so I had a support structure

* out of all the languages I had tried (JavaScript, Python, PHP, C++), I enjoyed it the most

* Ruby on Rails made it easy to get a web application up and running

* I like testing, and Ruby-ists are big on that

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dvdhnt
My first "real" programming language was Ruby. My current position requires a
lot of JavaScript. I dabbled in Python but never particularly enjoyed writing
Python code.

Ruby is still the easiest language that I've learned and used consistently.

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aashishlowanshi
They are quite easy to start with but hard to master.

More and more people are exposed to JavaScript. But I think Python is easier
to learn.

