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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.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by mendax on Friday November 04 2016, @08:23PM
It helps when one's father is a university professor and had an account on the school's mainframe.
And actually you are incorrect about novice programmers being lucky enough to use Applesoft Basic on an Apple II. Most people then learned to code on mainframes or minicomputers, often requiring the program to be punched on cards. The desktop computer, while definitely making a big splash in the world, was a pretty pitiful programming platform. That mainframe I learned to program on was built in the late 1970's and one of the fastest computers in existence at the time.
It is we today, and the kids of the present day, who are very lucky. Fast, cheap computers are ubiquitous, high-quality open source operating systems and programming environments are widely available, and anyone who has the guts and gonads to master the intricacies of programming can learn how to do it with relative ease.
It's really quite a simple choice: Life, Death, or Los Angeles.
(Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday November 05 2016, @01:11AM
It helps when one's father is a university professor and had an account on the school's mainframe.
[...] That mainframe I learned to program on was built in the late 1970's and one of the fastest computers in existence at the time.
And so you continue bragging about your privilege. You're an asshole.
(Score: 4, Informative) by t-3 on Saturday November 05 2016, @03:55AM
No, you're most definitely the asshole. Mendax was fortunate enough to have access to equipment many people didn't, and you tell him to feel bad about that. WTF kind of sense does that make? That's like some bum screaming at everyone with nice cars and jobs to "check their privelege" because he's unemployed and broke and it makes him feel bad to see other people doing well. Since when is jealousy something society has to appease?
(Score: 2) by moondoctor on Saturday November 05 2016, @12:03PM
Yep, my Mom's boyfriend was head of the math dept at local good university as a kid, got to play on a PDP-11 getting my feet wet.
The idea of starting out as a 9 year old with a terminal window open in my smartphone that is attached to a global network kinda blows my mind...