

Which programming language would you suggest? - mogg

I have been trying pretty much every language from Java &amp; Python to Delphi and VB6. I don&#x27;t really have a particular interest in what sort of technology, be it web or desktop, etc.<p>I can&#x27;t seem to stick to one language - Can you suggest me a language and why it is used? Many thanks.
======
ptasci67
Any answer to this questions is dependent on your goals and current knowledge
level.

Are you trying to program something specific? If so, does that platform (iOS,
Android) have a specific language you need to use or can you choose the stack
(web)?

Are you trying to learn how to program? You mention you don't have any
specific platform interests so are you just looking for a good starter
language to learn?

Here are my opinions:

Python: A really strong language to learn as your first. Powerful, good
external packages. Strict syntax means you learn how to do things the right
way

Java: Used everywhere and can be applied to almost any project. Verbose but
has solid performance and ability to segregate tasks and concerns.

Ruby: Rails (about the only reason I can think to really use Ruby).

Javascript: Easy to pick up but also easy to falter because the language gives
you so much freedom you can easily do things wrong and not realize until much
later. That being said, for the initiated, JS is having a renaissance for
frontend (angular,et al) and backend stacks (node, et al).

C++/C#: The father of modern OO programming languages and his sexier grandson
that took the best parts of everything before and placed a Microsoft sticker
on it.

PHP: Wordpress and Facebook still run on this aging server side language.

And then from this list you have a ton of variations on each like Scala and
Clojure falling out of Java. Go is out there as well. Objective C became
Apple's Swift.

I think the best way to start is really C++ or Java. Learn the fundamentals,
data types, algorithms, performance tradeoffs, OO design and fundamentals.
Take those skills and carry them over to any other language or application you
want to work on. Even the ones that aren't strictly OO like JS.

~~~
kyllo
_Ruby: Rails (about the only reason I can think to really use Ruby)._

Honestly you really can and should use Ruby in any situation where you would
have used Perl. Ruby is a better Perl.

------
kyllo
I think rather than a language, you need a project. Decide what you want to
build, pick a language that has a suitable library or framework for what you
want to build, and then just start building it.

I learned programming because I wanted to make a simple web app for running
some reports from a database at work, and there was no one else in my office
who could code. I bought a Web Programming book and used HTML/CSS, JavaScript,
PHP, and SQL. At the time that was the best way for me to learn all of those
languages/tools. Later I picked up Java, Python, Ruby, Clojure, etc. from
working on other types of projects. But it all started from the need to make
something to solve an unmet need at work.

------
aqsis
Don't choose one language!

Why constrain yourself? One thing I always try to instil into my teams, "learn
to program, do not learn a language". If you focus on becoming a good
engineer/architect, you'll be able to pick up any language and use it easily.

~~~
sheepmullet
That is good advice if you already know a couple of languages well. It is
terrible advice for a beginner because they end up spending most of their time
on configuration/syntax/build process etc rather than learning the
fundamentals of programming (it sounds like the OP is a beginner).

------
haidrali
It very much depends upon your own interest if you are looking career in web
development then i will suggest you to start learning frameworks instead just
language for web there are plenty of frameworks my suggestion would be

\- Rails for Ruby \- Laravel for PHP \- Angular for Front End

this is all from me according to my understanding of stuff Thanks

------
wsc981
C# seems useful in many different ways (web, mobile, desktop) and it's a very
complete language, so perhaps that would be a nice start.

------
LarryMade2
I'd say Python, it's a good multi-platform, lower learning-curve, general
purpose language that works on desktop or web.

------
AngeloAnolin
Javascript

Pretty much a lot of stuff (front and backend) can be written in JS.

~~~
mogg
backend as in node.js?

