Portuguese? How about Esperanto or pig Latin? Oh, never mind. We’re talking about programming languages. My mind tends to wander sometimes. Actually…all of those are perfectly valid forms of communication. They wouldn’t be very helpful if you’re attempting to get your computer to perform a task. On the other hand, what could be more interesting than learning a western romance language like Portuguese? Personally, I can think of several things, but that’s just me. No disrespect to the Portuguese language. Sem desespeito.
To be honest you should learn as many programming languages as possible. And you should do so immediately! Well, what are you waiting for? Go learn!
My apologies for such assertiveness. I realize that’s not very helpful. Hopefully I haven’t confused you too much. There are so many programming languages it can be overwhelming. This is probably why you’re reading this in the first place. Perhaps a friend told you to start with Java. Then a co-worker heard that Python is the way to go. Heck, kids in grade school are learning Javascript. You thought to yourself that if they’re learning it, then I should be able to learn it too, right? So, which one do you pick? The decision can be very time consuming. It’s like trying to take care of that big rash all over your body from that time you fell in the patch of poison ivy naked. Just thinking about it makes me itch.
All those languages are good. Each one has qualities that make it great for certain tasks. Also, once you learn one language it becomes a LOT easier to learn more. Many software developers know as many as five to ten languages. I’ll discuss some of them, what they are typically used for, and whether or not they might be a good choice to learn first.
We’ll discuss Python, Java, C#, HTML and JavaScript. If there’s time, we could spend more time discussing Portuguese. 🙂
Python is a high-level, general-purpose programming language. It is commonly used for developing websites and software, task automation, data analysis, and data visualization. Python is known for being easy to learn. Many high schools and grade schools teach it as it’s considered a simpler language where programs can be written with fewer lines of code.
The beauty of the Python language is that it can be used to write simple programs to perform calculations, connect to a database to keep track of recipes or use sophisticated data science libraries to calculate linear regressions. I’ve never done regression testing on recipes.
Java is one of the oldest object-oriented languages and it is used in web development, mobile apps, and desktop applications. It is a programming language and software platform that runs on billions of devices, including notebook computers, mobile devices, gaming consoles, medical devices and many others. Java is a general-purpose programming language intended to let programmers write once, run anywhere meaning that compiled Java code can run on all platforms that support Java without the need to recompile. You don’t even need to learn Portuguese.
Java is the most popular language for developing Android applications using the Android Software Development Kit (SDK).
The C# language, or C Sharp as it’s pronounced, was developed by Microsoft. It is a mature, general purpose, object-oriented language for the .NET framework. It is widely used for building Windows applications, mobile applications, web services and games.
The .NET Framework was created by Microsoft to provide an environment, libraries and tools to build and run applications on the Windows operating system.
C# is similar in syntax to C, C++ and Java. So, if you already know one of those languages, then learning C# is pretty easy. Then again, I still struggle trying to tie my shoes some days.
HTML (HyperText Markup Language)
The HyperText Markup Language or HTML is the standard markup language for documents designed to be displayed in a web browser. HTML usually hangs out with CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) to enhance the appearance of the website and JavaScript to add functionality and interactivity to the website. You can definitely create a simple HTML web page, but by adding CSS and JavaScript you can create truly dynamic web pages to enhance the user’s experience.
Individuals with those skills are referred to as Full Stack Developers. They understand the Front End (client) and Back End (server). Personally, I think it’s very advantageous to understand both ends so you have a better idea of how changes may affect all aspects of a web application.
You can also use those skills to build a cool website about world of ballroom dancing or possibly a live streaming website of the hippopotamus in its natural habitat. Or perhaps showing the hippopotamus doing ballroom dancing? I guess anything is possible.
In the sample code below, you can see the HTML elements that make up the web page.
JavaScript is one of the most used programming languages in the world. Meta, Google, and YouTube all use JavaScript as an integral part of their software because programmers can use it for server-side scripting, gaming, web applications, mobile apps, etc. JavaScript allows a programmer to create dynamically updated websites with interactive menus, multimedia and animation.
The JavaScript code is inserted between <script> and </script> tags as they are known. As shown in the code below, the code is on a regular HTML web page, but it also has some JavaScript added to it to display a greeting message.
Summary
In conclusion, we only discussed five of the languages generally learned by beginning programmers. Learning any one of them would be a great start, but personally if I had to choose one, I’d probably start with Python. However, as soon as I was comfortable with Python, I’d try to learn Java, C# and JavaScript too! With such knowledge you will become increasingly powerful in your ability to create functional and great looking applications and websites. Remember, with great power comes great responsibility.
Good luck with your decision and I hope you don’t fall into a patch of poison ivy naked or otherwise anytime soon.