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posted by martyb on Friday November 04 2016, @07:09PM   Printer-friendly
from the choose-logically dept.

We've had this question asked before I believe but it does no harm in asking it again and again. After all, opinions change as does the software ecosystem. Quincy Larson of FreeCodeCamp.com asked this question via Medium: What programming language should you learn first? He thinks JavaScript is the way to go and his arguments are cogent and well thought out. However, I am somewhat hesitant to suggest someone learn to code in JavaScript first. My first programming language (in 1981!) was Fortran on a Control Data mainframe. The interactive environment the OS provided was pretty simple and the language provided few opportunities to hang yourself. JavaScript, by comparison, while it may not have those evil pointers of C/C++, it offers functional features and plenty of rope to hang oneself.

So, opinions please.


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  • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Friday November 04 2016, @08:22PM

    by dyingtolive (952) on Friday November 04 2016, @08:22PM (#422602)

    I think whitespace Nazi languages are less terrible than perl syntax, or as I like to call it, "Cat on keyboard mode." :-)

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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by canopic jug on Saturday November 05 2016, @04:09AM

    by canopic jug (3949) Subscriber Badge on Saturday November 05 2016, @04:09AM (#422740) Journal

    Too many people freak out about perl accommodating many diverse styles of programming and thought. Some styles are of value, others not so much. Perl on some levels is just a Rorschach test for programmers. If your code is a mess, then the problem is staring you in the mirror and not coming from the language.

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    • (Score: 2) by dyingtolive on Saturday November 05 2016, @04:42AM

      by dyingtolive (952) on Saturday November 05 2016, @04:42AM (#422744)

      Maybe so, but from the point of a beginning programmer? You need structure to learn.

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