I use JS a lot these days but it's not the first one I learned (it was the second). My first foray into programming was a combination of C++ and GameMaker Language. I wanted to make games when I grew up and I remember reading everywhere that C++ was the language to learn. I was also using GameMaker a lot after school to hack together terrible prototypes which, at the time, used GameMaker Language.
After reading through hundreds of pages of a introduction to C++ book, I still never really got the hang of C++ but some of that knowledge stuck around and helped out with JS and Python. Today I haven't written any C++ or GameMaker Language in years but I'm sure they helped me get to where I am now.
What was the first programming language you learned and why did you learn it? Did you have a choice or was it by necessity?
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QBasic and DOS batch files on the family computer, back when those were beige! I wanted to make games, and started teaching myself from an old GW-BASIC reference book.
Then I read all the way through "Teach Yourself C in 21 Days" even though I didn't get a C compiler for a few more years :)
Mostly C++ and Python these days. After doing this for 25 years I still find it fascinating.
The first programming language I learned was BASIC running on a time sharing computer in the late 70s in High School. We'd log in using a dumb terminal and a modem running at 300 baud.
I thought the idea of programming a computer to do stuff was cool!
The Algorithm tells me this is your first comment, and that I should greet you so Welcome! :)
BASIC, because it was, more or less, the only language available in home computer in 80's (yes, I am that old... I was a teenager then).
Actually, thinking twice, maybe it was FORTRAN, the language used at my school (they had a special course on programming using the data processing facilities in the school, it was... mumble, mumble... 1982). It was more or less the same time I bought a Sinclair Spectrum and starting working in BASIC, so it is difficult to say who was the real "first".
Oh, yes, even before that I had a programmable pocket computer TI-57 with room for (brace yourself!) 57 instructions! (Wow...) :-)
Now, almost 40 years later, I use Ada.
Applesoft BASIC as my Uncle let me use his Apple IIC then some Assembly and Pascal as much as I could with limited info. I was saving up to buy a C compiler which if I remember correctly was around $100.
First language ever, QuickBasic at school. I used it just to print 'Hi' and ask for a name to then print it back. Formally, something like C using pen and paper with keywords in my native language
Was it difficult finding resources in your native language when you started learning?
No, we had translated books in the library at university. But, they were a bit outdated at the time, to be honest.
C++!
I started programming back in high school, mainly because I was interested in game dev. So, I did a bit of research and learned that the most popular programming language to dev games with was C++. So, I found a couple of books and started to learn on my own. It was quite fun, I miss the days where I had the time to sink into a language and play around with it.
Nice, that sounds familiar! Do you still use C++ in any capacity today?
Fortran, what Programming 101 was taught in (Spring semester of '75).
Then Pascal, at a different school.
Got hired to work in Pascal. Learned several flavors of SQL.
My shop paid to have me trained in PowerBuilder, used that for a decade.
I learned some VBScript, JavaScript, and Perl at work. Three horrible, filthy languages.
The worst code I ever encountered at work were the Perl scripts I had to decipher because the devloper who wrote them refused to support code they wrote at work for the business.
You've made your stance on VBScript, JavaScript, and Perl clear. I know there are some issues with these three languages and devs have strong opinions about them.
Which language do you enjoy using and what makes it more enjoyable/productive than the three mentioned?
First ever? BASIC, on an Atari XE computer when I was about 11.
First formally learned? Java, in college.
First professionally used? PHP
It's interesting to see the different languages in different contexts.
Was Java taught with the BlueJ IDE?
(I remember using it in university while learning Java)
I honestly can't remember. I think it may have been a combination of eclipse and cli.
it wasn't a programming language ,it was WML kind of like HTML . later i used .asp with it to make wap site
That's so cool, I completely missed this technology.
I started with PHP back in 2008, at the time PHP, Ruby, ASP.NET, and Java where popular languages for server-side programming.
I choose PHP because it had the most resource and everyone I know recommended it.
Nice, do you still use PHP today? How has it changed since when you started?
no, I moved from PHP to Node.js in 2012 and nowadays I use mostly Go alongside Node.js.
I also want to give Elixir a try too.