Hi, my name is Garrick. I am 17 and a junior in High School. For the past few months I have been interested in learning how to program, but have not been able to find the time. Now that summer is coming up, I am really wanting to get started.
I have spent more time reading than actually doing, and I have heard from several different sources your first language affects how you learn other new languages, and the way you view programming in general. I have read you should not learn Java as a first language.
So my question is, does this really matter? I am planning on making a career of programming if things go well and learning many langauges, so I figured it would be important to make sure I get started on the right foot so to speak. If this does matter, what is a language you would recommend?
Comments
Another alternative is Object Pascal / Delphi. Pascal has always been known as the "student language". But it is also a dying language.
C is ok for beginners. It has a rather complicated, messy syntax and there are plenty of pitfalls, but on a hobbyist level it is rather straight-forward language.
C++ is like C, only much more complex. Like C, it has a messy syntax. It has object orientation support, but it isn't pretty. C++ is likely the most complex programming language of them all. I would suggest picking it as the second language to learn.
Stay far, far away from Visual Basic. It was written by lunatics, to be used by idiots. I have programmed plenty in VB5/VB6/VB.NET/VBA so I know what I'm talking about. The language stinks.
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