Which programming language should I learn?

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I want to learn programming skills from scratch (at first would like to learn for programming job, later for self develop, website, apps...), but dont know where to start. I am a bit confused. Any help, much appreciated.

What I have tried:

I started to learn visual studio (c language, beginner).

Posted 8-Mar-18 12:12pm

cowboybebop84

Updated 8-Mar-18 21:34pm

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PIEBALDconsult 8-Mar-18 18:34pm

Visual Studio is an IDE and it may stunt your growth.
C is not a forgiving language, so not real good for beginners.
Python is a good learning language (I hear).

Patrice T 8-Mar-18 18:56pm

I think I would not recommend Python as mastering indentation can be tricky to beginners.

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Patrice T · Answer 1 · 2018-03-08T12:55:00

You have to know that you can do pretty much anything in any language, simply some languages are harder for beginners because there is more pitfalls to handle.
You need to master a set of techniques that are the basis of the job and are not linked to a language.

Advices:
- Start with an easy/safe language: VB, Java, C#, not C or C++
- Read documentation / Follow tutorials (a lot of them)
- Start with tiny/useless projects, the purpose is to learn programming, not doing something useful.
- Start with console mode programs (no fancy graphics, no mouse)
- Learn debugger
Debugger - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[^]
Mastering Debugging in Visual Studio 2010 - A Beginner's Guide[^]
- A problem ? Google is your friend.
- Learn Algorithms and Data-Structures.
- Learn Boole algebra
- Learn one or more analyze methods, E.W. Djikstra top-Down method is a good start.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top-down_and_bottom-up_design[^]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structured_programming[^]
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edsger_W._Dijkstra[^]
https://www.cs.utexas.edu/users/EWD/ewd03xx/EWD316.PDF[^]
- Learn SQL
- Learn Databases design and Administration
Introduction to database design[^]
1NF, 2NF, 3NF and BCNF in Database Normalization | DBMS Tutorial | Studytonight[^]
- Learn Regular Expressions

Interesting link:
stanford.edu: Learn to Program[^]

There is no shortcut to knowledge, no one can learn for you, you are the only one that can do it.
Remember the exercises and little projects are not here to make something useful, they are here to teach you programming.

nv3 · Answer 2 · 2018-03-08T12:49:00

That's a good start. Visual Studio is a powerful development environment and C is good language to start with.

If you are looking for a job in software development please keep in mind that:

- you will need a lot more programming skills than just a single language, for example: various libraries for graphical user interfaces, probably more than just one operating system, diverse special libraries for the field you will be working in, testing and debugging tools, source code management tools, and many more subjects.

- so you might better start off to develop some applications for your own use and give it a couple of years until you start looking for a job in the software development industry.

- C is good language for beginners, but does not contain some of the techniques used in more advanced languages, for example object oriented techniques (classes, derivation, ...). So you might continue with studying C++ and at least one of C# or Java or similar. If you are looking for a job in the internet industry, of course other skills will then be necessary, HTML, CSS, javascript just to name a few.

So be patient. It will be a long journey, probably a life long one. But if you follow it with enthusiasm it will also be fun.

Richard MacCutchan · Answer 3 · 2018-03-08T21:13:00

Solution 3

If you are thinking about websites as well as desktop type apps, then C# is probably the best starting point. See .NET Book Zero by Charles Petzold[^].

Posted 8-Mar-18 21:13pm

Richard MacCutchan

KarstenK · Answer 4 · 2018-03-08T21:35:00

If you want to learn from the scratch than C and later C++ is the best. Search for some online tutorials. This is a good starter tutorial.

But knowing a programming language is only the beginning, because a lot of code and tools need to get applied. Important are code libraries, SDK and tools like git. Here on codeproject are a lot of sample projects to discover, some really great.

Most important is to know what you want to program, because every target platform has some preferred language. And that is the ultimate decision argument for choosing a language.

Which programming language should I learn?

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