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ASK HN: What Coding Language Should I Learn?

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Re: ASK HN: What Coding Language Should I Learn?

#11

Post by dllthomas »

kim0 wrote: post #8
slang800 wrote: post #3

Start with Python because it's relatively easy and makes sense. [Learn Python the Hard Way]( http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/ ) is a good resource. After you've got a Python project under your belt, learn JavaScript because pretty much every programmer will need to use JS at some point. [MDN]( https://developer.mozilla.org/ ) is a good reference for JS, CSS, and HTML. W3Schools is a terrible resource and should…

lisp or Haskell, which one expands the mind more. I mostly only have time to learn one

C, Lisp, OCaml, and Haskell were all revelatory experiences as I learned them in roughly that order. I'm not sure Lisp would have been, post Haskell - but I'm not at all sure it wouldn't have been. OCaml probably wouldn't have been, post Haskell (except probably for the module system).

I'm not sure where that leaves you, but one anecdote richer in perspective...

At this point I do find myself caring quite substantially more about expressive types than about code generation, which would argue for Haskell being more important.

Re: ASK HN: What Coding Language Should I Learn?

#13

Post by tugberkk »

It is almost funny that almost everyone are recommending a different language for the OP to learn :)

I would say choose those who are similar in each post, HTML / CSS and Javascript. Javascript actually would be the first one to learn imho, because it is easy, it is used in both client and server side (via node.js); it is very easy to learn.

Re: ASK HN: What Coding Language Should I Learn?

#14

Post by drohm »

Not knowing what/where you want to apply this new knowledge, I'd recommend learning Python. It's a very good beginning language and it can be applied to many different areas (web, science, research, etc...). You can also easily apply the general programming knowledge you learn in Python to many different languages.

Some free Python resources: - Dive into Python - http://www.diveintopython.net/toc/index.html - Dive into Python (v3) - http://getpython3.com/diveintopython3/whats-new.html - Official Python Tutorial - https://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/index.html - Learn Python the Hard Way - http://learnpythonthehardway.org/book/ - The New Boston Python (videos) - https://thenewboston.com/videos.php?cat=36

HTH

Re: ASK HN: What Coding Language Should I Learn?

#15

Post by romanovcode »

throweway wrote: post #12

I think Java would not be a bad choice as a general first language. And Javascript if web is your thing.

Agree with this. My first language was C# and because of it I learned a lot about correct patterns and code readability/refactoring that I can use in PHP or JS now.

Re: ASK HN: What Coding Language Should I Learn?

#17

Post by edimaudo »

You should ask yourself what do you want to build? If you just want to build a static website then HTML, CSS and basic javascript with a sprinkling of photoshop/gimp. If you want to build a web app then learn HTML, CSS, Javascript and then ruby, and then ruby on rails or Node.js. In terms of free resources get your feet wet with codeacademy then move on to freecodecamp. Oh and join codenewbie for support as learning to code could be frustrating at times.
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