For those who ask: "What programming language should I learn?"

[pbuk]

I probably wouldn't start with C++, just as I wouldn't start my tool collection with a Swiss Army knife.

And that is the whole point of this thread. For some reason, many people choose to start their tool collection with that Swiss Army knife - even if they are only interested in painting pictures or writing novels.

Currently PF doesn't exactly help that picture: of the 4 sticky posts in this forum, the only language (or instruction set) specific titles are "Guide to C++ Programming For Beginners" and "AVX-512 Programming: Extracting Column Subtotals from a Table". AVX-512 FizzBuzz anyone?

 

[Vanadium 50]

Well, PF has gone a bit sticky crazy. But that's neither here nor there.

If the argument is "C++ is not the best starting point", why not argue that? Don't try to pick the optimum alternative for every case.

I happen to agree that it's not the best starting point, but don't think this is the Biggest Problem We Face Today. Not where I would start, but it doesn't permanently damage people either. And I don't think the people who jump to it will be swayed by a PF post or even an insight.

My advice to "what language should I learn" has consistently been "it is more important that you learn to program than what the language you first learn" and this advice is fairly consistently ignored.

 

[phinds]

My advice to "what language should I learn" has consistently been "it is more important that you learn to program than what the language you first learn" and this advice is fairly consistently ignored.

 

[phinds]

My advice to "what language should I learn" has consistently been "it is more important that you learn to program than what the language you first learn" and this advice is fairly consistently ignored.

I had the great good fortune to be taught this from the very start many decades ago. At the time there were relatively few computer languages but even so the prof was emphatic that programming was not about syntax, it was about clearly thinking through the problem and how to solve it before worrying about how to do it in any particular language.

 

[DaveC426913]

 

[pbuk]

If the argument is "C++ is not the best starting point", why not argue that? Don't try to pick the optimum alternative for every case.

Agreed.

My advice to "what language should I learn" has consistently been "it is more important that you learn to program than what the language you first learn"

Agreed.

 

[pbuk]

View attachment 328717

As it happens I might refer to JavaScript as my "favourite" language, in the sense that it is the one I most enjoy working in*. It also has one significant advantage: almost anyone that has a web browser already has a JavaScript compiler.

However with today's easy access to beginner-friendly IDEs and online compilers for other languages this is less of an advantage than it used to be, and besides this is PhysicsForums and Python is much better than JS for physics (or any other computational science).

* However I usually force myself to use TypeScript which avoids the problem in the picture.

 

[DaveC426913]

I can't say this is the wittiest or funniest toon, but man is it on the nose when it comes to my dev career and its ultimate demise.