Ask HN: What is one programming language you would recommend to a new learner?

Python’s syntax is clean, simple, and designed to be easy to understand.

Python is used across a wide range of industries and applications—from web development (Django, Flask) to data analysis and machine learning (pandas, NumPy, TensorFlow), and automation. You can start with small scripts and scale up to complex projects as you learn more.

Python has an enormous community of developers, which means a wealth of resources like tutorials, forums, documentation, and third-party libraries are available. When you're stuck, it's easy to find help on sites like Stack Overflow, Reddit, or in Python-specific communities. I think Javascript is the only language with a larger community.

Python is one of the most in-demand programming languages in the job market.

C

The best advice anyone can give you on this is to “just pick one”. Analysis paralysis is death and is going to waste your valuable learning time. Understanding programming concepts, which you can do with most languages, is paramount and will make you equipped to switch to something else later on.

That said, some languages can be friendlier or more useful than others. Start with a scripting language, not a compiled one.

I’d recommend Ruby over Python, as it’s more expressive and less rigid with invisible characters. In Ruby you often find yourself thinking “I wonder if this works” and it does.

But if you don’t have a particular goal in mind, I’d even recommend p5.js above those. It’s essentially JavaScript for making art, with a large community geared for new learners. The best part is that with very little code you can have graphics on the screen reacting to your inputs, which is way more exciting than modifying text.

MetaMine - It mixes declarative and imperative code with sane rules. It's the most powerful programming language I've ever seen. Unfortunately, it only briefly winked into existence a few years ago. Here's the demo[1] via the Internet Archive to whet your appetite. See also, mentions here on HN[2].

[1] http://web.archive.org/web/20201014024057/https://www.youtub...

[2] https://hn.algolia.com/?dateRange=all&page=0&prefix=false&qu...

[2]