I strongly agree that many people overthink the problem of choosing the first language to code at the beginning. The very basic concepts are almost the same in all languages, so there will be no problem changing the language at any time. I think the issue here lies in small details. After working with teenagers who were learning to code, I noticed that motivation and self-confidence play a significant role in people doing their first steps in programming. Languages with less natural syntax and strict rules tend to create additional problems at the beginning. Additional unnecessary problems develop negative feelings and result in a decrease in motivation. To avoid such situations, I think JavaScript or Python may be more preferable as they have looser mandatory rules to follow.
Sr. Software Engineer at CallRail building microservices to support 3rd party integrations. PhD student at the University of Nebraska studying bioinformatics, machine learning, and algorithms.
I strongly agree that many people overthink the problem of choosing the first language to code at the beginning. The very basic concepts are almost the same in all languages, so there will be no problem changing the language at any time. I think the issue here lies in small details. After working with teenagers who were learning to code, I noticed that motivation and self-confidence play a significant role in people doing their first steps in programming. Languages with less natural syntax and strict rules tend to create additional problems at the beginning. Additional unnecessary problems develop negative feelings and result in a decrease in motivation. To avoid such situations, I think JavaScript or Python may be more preferable as they have looser mandatory rules to follow.
Interesting take, I'd never considered the learner's own confidence. Thanks for your perspective!