Starting your journey in programming can be an exciting but daunting experience. One of the first decisions you'll make is choosing which programming language to start with.
We want to hear from our newbies and from some of the more experienced community members, too: What was the first programming language you learned, and what programming language(s) are you currently studying?
Latest comments (69)
I originally chose Java because it was popular language, so I had heard, and because my favorite game at the time, Minecraft, used it.
This was when I was young, like 10 to 12 age-range, so I don't remember all the details.
I started with Python on Codecademy, and then shifted to C to better understand how code works "near the metal"
As a Secondary School teacher who used to teach ICT I was told that I was going to be a Computer Science teacher (five years ago). I chose Python to teach the kids, my main regret is not going into programming and being a teacher, but I'm working on this. Now learning JS hopefully if I keep going I'll have some all round skills and enough knowledge to get me an Interview.
I started this journey of development this week and I'm starting with Javascript
My first programming language was Java, because my past dream was to make plugins for Minecraft servers, but in 2022, I was more mature and decided to learn JavaScript because I want to work as a Front-end developer, in September / October of 2022, I started with TypeScript and now TypeScript is my primary language.
FORTRAN; the only option for the only computer available to work on
Technically, Apple BASIC on an Apple ][+ back in the early 80's, because it was the only option available to me. After that, I started getting into the guts of it with 6502 assembler. And then TurboPascal on an old IBM PC clone, but again, it was what was available to me. From there, it gets fuzzy -- some more Pascal and C++ in college, followed by a mix of Java, Javascript, Perl, PHP, and Ruby.
These days, mostly Javascript and Python, but I am eyeballing learning some Swift, just to expand my knowledge base.
I started with a Java book, then moved quickly to C for my first projects. Even with Java, I started by doing everything manually (javac, etc).
I believe this is the best way to actually understand the bases. Only when you are familiar enough with those concepts, you can move on to higher level languages and tools (IDEs, tool chains, etc). Nothing more effective than going berserk on pointers for days to understand memory management.
I haven't used C in ten years, but I am still glad I chose it to start with.
Am starting with html and css, then will be progressing to javascript an sql. I really want to be a professional in frontend development
The first programming language I ever used was Lua. I learned it so that I could write scripts and mods for Garry's Mod. That got me interested in programming in general, so then I learned Java, which was arguably the most popular language at the time. After that I learned LSL (Linden Scripting Language, for the game Second Life), PHP, JavaScript, C/C++, C# in that order. There were a few other languages I dabbled in during university, including Python, Ruby, MIPS assembly, Prolog, Scala, and probably a few that I'm forgetting, but I never really became "fluent" in any of those ones. Now I work mainly with TypeScript and JavaScript. Unfortunately most of my other language skills have atrophied a lot by now.