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Forum » What is the best programming language?

What is the best programming language?

Bones 16 years ago
Guys, please help me.
I started to sail off to the programming seas, but there are 'bout 100 programming languages around...
Which one is the best?
Please, answer.
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Crazy 16 years ago
I'm sorry, but evidently you are not fit for these seas.
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E_net4 16 years ago
Crazy, you should say something good instead of junk.

In my opinion, there's a proper language for each programmer, and you'll have to find it out by yourself. Languages with more power are usually harder, and easy languages might not be as powerful.
I also remember when Quanrian told me this: "If you focus too much on the language you're just wasting time, when you could be making something."
Hence, I do not really have a suggestion for you.
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Bones 16 years ago
Thanks, man. I think that it just might help.
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Grim Reaper 16 years ago
Conclusion: There is no "best programming language" per se. You must specify what you're going to program so we can start properly recommending a language for you to use.
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Amarth 16 years ago
Still, it's interesting to look into different programming languages. As for my suggestion...

Haskell, Python, Java, C++. Perhaps skip one of Java or Python since they are similar in concept. Now, why...

Haskell: functional language. Learns you to think in terms of what you *want*, not copy-paste code from the nets you understand only a bit. Also, has interesting concepts like lazy evaluation (doesn't do something if it shouldn't do it) and higher order functions (pass functions as arguments). This leads to stuff like infinite data structures and other fun. IO is a pain to get working at first, though. You either learn this language first (when you haven't been polluted with procedural languages yet) or years later, when you can do procedural/object-oriented without thinking and are ready for something new.

Python/Java: Object-oriented languages. Very important paradigm these days. Also, these can do about everything you might want to do. I am a Java programmer myself, but I heard good things about Python as learning tool so probably it's worth a look.

C++: Industry standard. Many libraries available. Can hurt you really badly and has painful syntax at times. Worth learning just because it's used everywhere and probably won't leave that place very soon - if you can do C++ you can do whatever you want with/for existing projects, which can be useful.

Other recommendations: Ruby, Perl, assembly, Prolog, Lisp, Scala, Mercury, Javascript. I think that spans about the whole set of usable language paradigms.
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Grim Reaper 16 years ago
Or if you like drawing bitmaps and torturing yourself with low-level computing, try Piet.
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Bones 16 years ago
I will have a go with Python, I downloaded it anyway.
Thanks guys.
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E_net4 16 years ago
"Grim Reaper" said:
Or if you like drawing bitmaps and torturing yourself with low-level computing, try Piet.
That language is too painful for usual programming. No way!

"Amarth" said:
Other recommendations: Ruby, Perl, assembly, Prolog, Lisp, Scala, Mercury, Javascript. I think that spans about the whole set of usable language paradigms.
Are you really sure he's ready to learn Assembly?!
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Amarth 16 years ago
"E_net4" said:
"Amarth" said:
Other recommendations: Ruby, Perl, assembly, Prolog, Lisp, Scala, Mercury, Javascript. I think that spans about the whole set of usable language paradigms.
Are you really sure he's ready to learn Assembly?!
About as much as everything else, yes. Definitely more than for Scala and Mercury, for example. But if you want to learn how to program, you must do assembly at some point. That is, if you want to truly learn it, and not be an amateur in it. Those are different goals, of course - no offense to people who just dabble around a bit and are happy with that.

Mind you, you shouldn't do a lot in assembly. Just know how it works. Learn how code gets loaded. Learn about registers, caches, pipelining, jump prediction. Computer architecture in general.

For me, programming is an art with many aspects. I mean, when someone says "I want to learn programming", everyone always assumes you want to learn object oriented or procedural coding. I wonder why? Other stuff is just as important*. Coding some functions in assembly will teach you more about computers and (the art of) programming than following a lousy C tutorial on the internet, IMO.

[EDIT] * and a lot more fun, too.
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Narvius 16 years ago
I write in C#, but I don't know anything about other ones.
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E_net4 16 years ago
That is true, Amarth. But it's recommended to study CPU architecture first.
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Anonymous1157 16 years ago
I WAS going to learn 6502 Assembly (I knew about 20 commands by heart at one point, out of about 50), but I couldn't figure out how to actually DO anything, or WHAT to do, for that matter. It's sad, 'cause the NES isn't too complicated.

I might just get back into it soon. I told my dad about the computer I'm eventually going to build (With a 6502 of course) and he actually LIKED the idea.
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LunaticNeko 16 years ago
In order to choose which language to learn, you have to ask yourself what you're going to do after finishing the course. I started out with C++, because I blunted myself into the seas and before I knew it, I learn newer languages quite easily because C++ is quite early compared to these.
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Vacuus 16 years ago
Oh, Amarth mentionted Python in a positive way :p

To me, however, programming is just one aspect of many. I don't think you can really say "Im going to learn programming" without learning about other aspects of computing - hardware, different operating systems (Not just "Windowz"), Network protocols, etc, etc...

So, if your not considering it as a career, I'd advise you *not* to jump into programming until you need to. Play around a bit, learn your operating system (Windows?) - heck, download a copy (LiveCD, probably) of Linux for that matter and learn that too. Pull apart your computer (under supervision), read articles on Wikipedia, whatever. Just don't program until you need to You've probably got an awesome idea for a game or such like, but jumping in to learn programming to just make games will limit your perspective...

Once you've got something you want to test out, start small. Whilst Thaimodz and I both started with C++ (Gee, what a pain at 14...), you don't have to also. Python/Java (Though I personally hate it), or even smaller languages such as TCL/Tk, or AutoIt can teach you (the very important) basics about programming - what makes a program/library, methods of implementation, different structures, paradigms, etc, etc...

Most of that probably makes no sense. Drinking can do that to me, I'll check back in the morning if I remember...
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Murska 16 years ago
"Thaimodz" said:
In order to choose which language to learn, you have to ask yourself what you're going to do after finishing the course. I started out with C++, because I blunted myself into the seas and before I knew it, I learn newer languages quite easily because C++ is quite early compared to these.


Hello there, Thaimodz. Haven't seen you in a while.
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