What language do I start with? (personal opinion)

How can we choose our first languages? 🤔

We have to take 5 main standards into account:

The easy you can run the code (Their IDEs are easy)

How easy it's

The starting language for you has to be easy or you might hate programming from the beginning, so you don't have to start with something like C++ or Java, it's not about how "cool" that language is, it's about how much you understand it and comfortable with it.

print("Easy")

console.log("Fast");

puts "and";

<?php
echo "smooth";

Start with easy programming languages like Python, JavaScript, Ruby, PHP.

The most important thing that you don't think that programming itself is easy, that may cause you to stop and get bored.

The big of their communities

Starting with a language that has a big community will make starting with it much easier.

You can start with something easy like PHP, Ruby, etc... but why do we start with Python & JS?
because they have a really big community that can help you whenever you're stuck. and you need that help while starting. BUT you can start with others too.

Programming Language Communities - An update

SlashData ・ Nov 10 '20 ・ 3 min read

#programming #javascript #python #devrel

The amount of free resources

When you start learning to program the resources is the most important thing to think about, some languages don't have easy-to-get resources.

Some useful resources for beginners can be: W3Schools, SoloLearn, StackOverFlow, TutorialsPoint

Resources are very important especially if you're self-learning.

So find a programming language that has a lot of recourses

Pro-Tip: Reading the docs is very useful to understand any language, you'll find most of them in devdocs.io.

The easy you can run the code (Their IDEs are easy)

Running, debugging and testing is so important for any programmer\developer and you have to learn it, but if it isn't easy that'll take so much time of you just trying to run it while you can use other languages like Python or such and run it easily and that'll make you well progress in lesser time.

You can use Visual Studio or Visual Studio Code since it can run lots of languages and they're easy to use.

The most in-demand

The best language to start with is the one that you can work with once you finish learning it, or at least you have more years of experience since you started earlier, which indeed will increase your chance of finding a job.
So you have to choose a language you might start with after learning it, so you have to know what do most companies search for.

The Most In-Demand Programming Languages in 2021

Click on the picture to check the resource

This list is only for 2021, if you are reading this in like 2024, 2025, etc... the in-demand languages will be changed probably, so you have to Google it yourself 😄

Recommendations

You're not required to follow all the standards of this post, there are more important ones, so you have to just measure them, don't take it for granted. Good luck. 👍🏻

Keep in mind:

Keep in mind that depending on the field you'll work in, you have to choose your first language since some languages are better in fields that others aren't; such as JS or PHP to web development, C# or C++ to game development, Python to AI & Machine Learning etc...

Do not be intolerant of the language you will start with or force others to start with it as well.

Don't stop learning, and don't reject learning a new language for no reason.

When you learn your first language; focus more on learning the basics of programming itself, not just learning the language.