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What language is best for absolute code virgins to begin with?

I hear popular choices like Python and Ruby, because both are friendlier in terms of syntax. I also hear some who say to just start from the "fundamental" C and work up to higher-level languages.

Or should beginners even start with a language at all? There are games where players still learn concepts like recursion and loops without having to type code.

8 years ago by btcprox with 2 comments

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  • picklefingers
    +2

    I'll copy paste my post from the codecademy thread:

    If C is intimidating, I'd suggest python. The entire language is written to look nice and be easily readable. Good python code can usually be understood by even beginner programmers. You should try checking out Learn Python the Hard Way. Despite the name, it really isn't that hard to learn from and will bring you to a level where you are able to do personal projects on your own.

    I'd recommend either C or Python. Python for the reasons above. C because it will feel like a primer for modern programming languages (and it is still used today). Many of the most used programming languages today are based on or heavily inspired by C. Learning C, you will easily be able to translate your skills to C++, C#, and Java. It also requires you to do a lot of things yourself rather than just letting the language handle it for you. It really helps you learn whats going on in the code.

    • btcprox
      +1

      Good points brought up. I've also seen Learn <x> the Hard Way books, and it's only "hard" in the sense that it shoves you straight into the coding, making you stick rigidly to the given code examples and learn from them.