Learning To Code -- Which Language?

[Corso Marche]

This is purely a self-interest hobby intention, see if I can keep the old grey matter fired up !

I thought myself some programming languages as a kid, but left it all behind around the ages of 14-15.

I wouldn't mind giving it a go again and stimulating the mind a little, purely as a hobby, but what to start with ?

I've been looking at probably starting on CodeAcademy.com, but was hoping maybe some folk on here could offer opinions on what's the most practical and interesting language to start with...

[grumbledoak]

C# for more serious stuff, but the world and the web is going in the JavaScript direction at the moment. Either way you'll be seeing a lot of curly braces.

[Vaud]

If it's for fun...

Pascal for basics
COBOL as an investment for when those that support banks die off
ADA if you are a masochist
Java if you are modern day masochist
Python + a Raspberry Pi for fun and adventures
Wolfram (when it becomes available)

[ewenm]

Vaud said:

Python + a Raspberry Pi for fun and adventures

I'd go down that route.

[cianha]

I did the Ruby course on Codecademy, and while it walked me back through the basics, making the step from the final tutorial to a useful DIY project was a bit of a leap. It's a good learner OOO language though, I'd start with it.

[TotalControl]

If going down the route of python, I notice there's python 2 and 3.

What's the difference?

[Vaud]

TotalControl said:

If going down the route of python, I notice there's python 2 and 3.

What's the difference?

For learning for fun, not much. Technically, some difference: https://wiki.python.org/moin/Python2orPython3

[plasticpig]

TotalControl said:

If going down the route of python, I notice there's python 2 and 3.

What's the difference?

2 is short tailed and 3 is reticulated.

[bishbash]

What type of stuff do you want to make?
what platforms do you want to make stuff for desktop/web/mobile?
Do you have a PC or Mac?

[Du1point8]

MVC, JQuery, JS and CSS if you want to tear your hair out when fixing platforms built by people who think they are a programmers (thanks a fking lot MVC) and builds a system, then is kicked out of the company for not knowing what they are doing and you have to pick up the pieces.

Shocking coding and debugging it is a bh.

They got paid £500 a day for this mess.

[Corso Marche]

Ok, Ruby, Python, and JavaScript seem to be leading the suggestions, so that gives me options for a starting point.

bishbash said:

What type of stuff do you want to make?
what platforms do you want to make stuff for desktop/web/mobile?

I'm gonna say web/mobile stuff, seems to be the way forward when it comes to future trends.

bishbash said:

Do you have a PC or Mac?

Erm, neither actually, Ubuntu distro of Linux.

[Anubis]

W3Schools - fantastic website for learning.

Goodluck!

[zac510]

For web stuff, this is a bit more involved/tealtime than W3Schools:
https://webmaker.org/en/

[bishbash]

Corso Marche said:

Ok, Ruby, Python, and JavaScript seem to be leading the suggestions, so that gives me options for a starting point.

bishbash said:

What type of stuff do you want to make?
what platforms do you want to make stuff for desktop/web/mobile?

I'm gonna say web/mobile stuff, seems to be the way forward when it comes to future trends.

bishbash said:

Do you have a PC or Mac?

Erm, neither actually, Ubuntu distro of Linux.

I'd go with JavaScript to begin with then, you don't need any special tools, just a text editor and a browser, and it's very widely used.

[slow_poke]

SQL, because everything eventually leads back to a database.

[mikef]

slow_poke said:

SQL, because everything eventually leads back to a database.

Or MongoDB because everything leads back to a database and it's not 2000

Seriously I'd go along with Python and Django for web stuff (and I have worked/work with pretty much every language out there from web to embedded systems)

[Ynox]

mikef said:

Or MongoDB because everything leads back to a database and it's not 2000

Seriously I'd go along with Python and Django for web stuff (and I have worked/work with pretty much every language out there from web to embedded systems)

Or Cassandra. Not only one horse in the NoSQL race (although I do like Mongo).

Python would be a decent shout. Plenty of guides and it's a nice language. Fairly performant too if you use the right libraries. I did some Python last year (commercially) and quite enjoyed it. Sadly I'm back in Java EE hell now.

[slow_poke]

Ynox said:

mikef said:

Or MongoDB because everything leads back to a database and it's not 2000

Seriously I'd go along with Python and Django for web stuff (and I have worked/work with pretty much every language out there from web to embedded systems)

Or Cassandra. Not only one horse in the NoSQL race (although I do like Mongo).

Python would be a decent shout. Plenty of guides and it's a nice language. Fairly performant too if you use the right libraries. I did some Python last year (commercially) and quite enjoyed it. Sadly I'm back in Java EE hell now.

C'mon guys, legacy systems is where the bread and butter will be found for a long time to come!

[Otispunkmeyer]

Slight OT, but what are those Arduino boards generally programmed with? I've used it, it's not difficult, but is it based on C or something?

[dcb]

Otispunkmeyer said:

Slight OT, but what are those Arduino boards generally programmed with? I've used it, it's not difficult, but is it based on C or something?

Wikipedia says

>Arduino programs are written in C or C++.

I wouldn't learn to code in C or C++, but they make an excellent choice
for the 2nd language to learn.

Something easier, like Java, or even a scripting language like Perl or
Python would be a fine choice for first language.