Advice on a first programming language

[Caustik]

Found out today my cousin is taking a computer science based course at university, and he's asked me for some advice and tips on what to learn (as background info). I suggested to him learn Python or Ruby as an introduction into programming techniques and concepts, but I'm asking here to find out what you guys would recommend he do to gain a beginners understanding about programming & computer science.

Any advice is greatly appreciated! :laugh:

~Adil

 

[Negata]

Is taking a course? Just have him take the course, it'll be all he needs.

 

[Shibi]

If its website programming it should be HTML & CSS or HTML5 & CSS3
If its programming lang it should be VB or C# those are easiest that´s what i think

 

[Caustik]

Is taking a course? Just have him take the course, it'll be all he needs.

I think he's doing a mixed business & cs course (not too sure though).

 

[TimeBomb]

If its website programming it should be HTML & CSS or HTML5 & CSS3
If its programming lang it should be VB or C# those are easiest that´s what i think

HTML and CSS aren't programming languages.
And no .NET language should be the first language any aspiring programmer learns.

Start with a good, stable and low level language and other languages will not only make more sense, but also be easier to learn. C.

 

[Quitta]

At university the first year students get Python, based on this book:

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Hope it helps!
Quitta

 

[wojanek]

Well.... in my opinion you should start with C++... Then move to java/C#...

 

[Quitta]

C++ offers to much to beginners, better start easier, learn how to program OO, procedural, learn all the statements, get familiar with pointers,.. This is ways more easier in Python. And after u master the basics, switch over to c++ or java

choose between these as follows, if you are planning to write programs in the future based on alot of calculations, like graphical engines, go for c++. Though if you prefer multi platform and networking, then start learning java.

 

[NubPro]

HTML and CSS aren't programming languages.
And no .NET language should be the first language any aspiring programmer learns.

Start with a good, stable and low level language and other languages will not only make more sense, but also be easier to learn. C.

HTML and CSS are Scripting language?

ps: how about PHP?

 

[Chris]

Html and CSS are markup. I think of programming languages as actual coding programs; not coding for the web.

As far as starting with programming languages, a lot of them are based off C, so it'd be a good idea to start from there, and the rest will come easily.

Starting for web development is most definitely Html.

 

[Quitta]

HTML and CSS are Scripting language?

ps: how about PHP?

HTML is like said chris said, a markup language, check the M in HTML = markup,
CSS defines the style of your website.

PHP is a scripting language.
Dont learn html, learn XHTML from the start! it's almost the same, though some more specific rules!

 

[s-p-n]

HTML is like said chris said, a markup language, check the M in HTML = markup,
CSS defines the style of your website.

PHP is a scripting language.
Dont learn html, learn XHTML from the start! it's almost the same, though some more specific rules!

xHTML is just as inconsistent (if not, worse) as HTML. The newest standards-compliant web markup language is the one you should learn (if you learn any at all). Right now that is HTML5. Remember that mark-up languages were designed for hand-coded, error-prone word-documents- so they have a tendency to "just work" even if the documents are full of errors. For that reason, mark-up languages have a tendency to appear differently when loaded by different interpreters (today, browsers are the interpreters). Mark-up was designed for static, motion-less documents. Somebody added the "hyperlink" and now we're stuck using a very unfit technology for web-sites.

CSS is a cascading stylesheet language invented for styling printed documents. It is still used and developed today for dynamic web-sites- despite the fact it's a horrible tool for that job. The latest version of CSS is CSS3.


You can't go wrong learning JavaScript- the most popular programming/scripting language. However, JavaScript has it's quirks, too. Originally developed in 10 days by

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at Netscape, JavaScript has many bad parts. Unlike HTML and CSS, though, JavaScript is the only language we use in web development that was originally designed to be used in a web-browser. The newest revision of EcmaScript (EcmaScript 5)- is what you should learn if you decide to learn JavaScript. [EcmaScript is the subset of JavaScript that is not dependent on any web browser or the DOM]. If you plan on using JavaScript for web-browwsers, you may still want to make your JavaScript code compliant with EcmaScript 3 in order to support Internet Explorer 9/10 and below (not sure about 10 yet) and other legacy browsers.

Yeah, we got it bad here at the web, I suggest going to Python which is very clean, concise and easy to learn.. Or if you want to dig deeper into computers, start with C. It won't hurt much to learn both C and Python at the same time and see which one you really want to start with.. No sense punishing yourself with C++ so early on in your journy.

 

[Nathandj]

My first was PHP, wasn't hard to understand, you'll learn it quickly. Now i'm taking a look to Java.

 

[Nihilism]

My friend Reid currently goes to school at MTSU for software engineering and is a major help for Zathyus Networking's Support and Resource staff (Zathyus networking being the company that hosts InvisionFree and Zetaboards forum brands), when I spoke to him about wanting to learn coding languages he suggested I first learn some web designing, (Html, CSS, et cetera) and then when I was ready for Programming languages that I start with JavaScript, and then move to the more powerful ones.

I haven't studied any languages in a long time, but I have heard Python is a useful and easy language to start with as well.

So, with everyone really recommending Python, that is what I'll go for too.

 

[Supicioso]

Start with VB or C#. Anyone who tells you to pickup C++ as a starting language is a Special person. Unless you like jumping into the fray head first. Never start with C++

 

[Negata]

Start with VB or C#. Anyone who tells you to pickup C++ as a starting language is a Special person. Unless you like jumping into the fray head first. Never start with C++

What do you base this on? In my experience neither of these is fun to program in or particularly useful for a beginner.

 

[Caustik]

VB is a disgusting language
Anyway, he's told me he'll be using a mix of c++ & java at uni

 

[jMerliN]

I'd suggest C as a first language, with some study in x86 (primarily looking at the output of compilers). Though everyone should learn a purely functional language and should be familiar with Javascript. Perhaps Haskell?

 

[Quitta]

Start with VB or C#. Anyone who tells you to pickup C++ as a starting language is a Special person. Unless you like jumping into the fray head first. Never start with C++

Dont start with VB or C# or any .net app either, it's a waste of time..
Better learn proper coding!

At our university it's Python,C++ and Java for networking

 

[Jolin88]

C# not proper coding? You must be joking, it's like java but better and it uses the same syntax

C# is easy to learn and powerful, but I still suggest C++ as first language because it's very important and different from modern languages, it would confuse you to learn java or C# and then go to C++, the other way round would be less confusing since it gets simpler