Question

i know this is quite a commonly asked question, but anyway : what programming language should i learn first, i don't have any prior programming knowledge at all. I was told to start with HTML, but i heard elsewhere that HTML is quite slow and timetaking. I don't know if it is true or not, but what is your opinion?

Answer 1

HTML is not a programming language

Answer 2

oh, ok. Then what is it, and what do you recommend?

Answer 3

I have been looking into this recently and I would recommend Javascript for the following reasons - 1) It is built in to most browsers, including debugging tools. 2) You can learn it with HTML5 and CSS3, putting you on a web developer track. And 3) there are some fantastic new capabilities when combined with WebGL for realtime 3D graphics and games, etc. See http://www.chromeexperiments.com/

Finally there are great new ways to learn it. For an interactive, gamified walk-through see 4) http://www.codecademy.com/#!/exercises/0

And for 1st person shooter 3D game approach to learnng see 5) http://primerlabs.com/codehero

Answer 4

Python without OOP. inventwithpython.com and hackershelf.com has some python books too I believe.

Answer 5

Give us a little more info on your background and your goals; why do you want to learn how to program, what do you want to do with it?

Answer 6

not c++ cause a lot of people look at me weird when i say i do that one lol.

Answer 7

HTML is not a programming language, but a markup language. And after HTML, branch to JavaScript, AND THEN CSS3. That's how I'm learning it anyway.

Answer 8

Depends on your goal, and i want to say it again HTML is not a programming language, i'd say C, its easy and fun and makes a good foundation.

Answer 9

well the reason i want to learn it is because i am interested in computers and want to know how they work, and apart from the hardware, side, i think that learning programming would be very interesting and fun, and making something out of it, such as a website would be fun too.

Answer 10

C if you're quite serious about programming. It looks easy, but once programs grow beyond the size of textbook examples, things can get quite difficult.
Python is great overall for beginners and later.
If you're really really serious, do the SICP course, which is based on the Lisp dialect Scheme. That will lead to some serious insight that 80 % of the world's professional programmers probably don't have.
And from the opposite spectrum of things, learn how to e.g. how to control an LED traffic light using e. g. a PIC microcontroller in assembly language.

Answer 11

A suggestion for a 45-year old hardware engineer will be different than for a 10-year old who wants to make games. Please provide some more of your background and education level. Do you want to do this just for fun or as a profession?

Answer 12

more fun than profession,15 years old

Answer 13

In that case I would suggest you start by making a custom map for e. g. starcraft I or II (or another game that has a level editor where you can use e. g. triggers).

Do you have any games like that?

Answer 14

no, i am not too interested in game development, i want to look more into web development, or making apps, e.g. for iphone

Answer 15

What kind of web development?

Answer 16

and what kinds of apps?

Answer 17

basically making websites

Answer 18

web sites such as...

Answer 19

Well, i only just want to play around with programming for now, nothing too serious, so i was thinking that making websites would be a good start, as i was looking at html, which didn't seem too hard.

Answer 20

again, HTML is not programming.

But the basics of it are pretty much a prerequisite of any kind of web programming.

Once you have the basics of HTML, you can branch out into either JavaScript or PHP.

JS has the advantage that you can play with it on your local machine, just from a text file. PHP requires some kind of web server (not that hard to set up locally, but more involved than just playing with HTML/JS/CSS).

At some stage you'll want your creations to be living in the Web anyway, then you'll have to think about where you'll host them. And hosting just HTML/JS files is much easier than hosting with PHP.

Answer 21

ok, thanks for your help. i will look into what you said. I have seen that the site codeacademy has a good, easy JS tutorial, which i will go through.