How Many Programming Languages Should I Learn At A Time Reddit

What Programming Language Should I Learn First in 2022? [Solved]

Most people'south journeying toward learning to programme starts with a single tardily-night Google search.

Usually it's something similar "Learn ______"

But how do they decide which linguistic communication to search for?

"They e'er joke nigh Java on Silicon Valley. I guess I should larn that."

Or:

"Haskell. Then hot right now. Haskell."

Or:

"That Get gopher is but then gosh-darn beautiful."

And so there's the residuum of us. We'll probably search for something similar:

"Which programming linguistic communication should I acquire commencement?"

Few questions are so ordinarily asked that they go the full infographic treatment. Merely this is 1 of them:

Deciding on your offset programming language can exist a fun procedure — kind of like one of those "Which Quentin Tarantino grapheme are you lot?" personality quizzes.

But earlier you lot run off to larn Scarlet considering y'all enjoyed playing with Play-Doh equally a kid, let me remind you: the stakes are pretty loftier hither.

Information technology volition take you hundreds of hours of do to get even remotely competent with your beginning programming linguistic communication.

So y'all should consider the following factors:

the job market for the language
the long term prospects for the linguistic communication
how easy the language is to larn
what projects you can build while you're learning (and share with friends so you lot tin can stay motivated)

Every year brings new programming languages, and with them, new academic papers. And new web comics.

Seriously. Check out this gem from last month:

When it comes to choosing a get-go programming linguistic communication, there's no shortage of options. To narrow information technology downwards a flake, here are the most common Google searches related to learning programming, over the past 12 years:

Java has had its ups and downs.

Python has gradually risen to get the virtually popular option.

Only tucked away below these is the Little Engine That Could, slowly choo-choo'ing up in popularity over the past few years. And that engine is JavaScript.

Before I talk about these programming languages, permit me clarify:

I'chiliad not arguing that any one language is objectively better than whatever other
I agree that developers should eventually learn more than than one language
I'm arguing that commencement they should learn one linguistic communication well. And — as y'all can probably guess from the upside downward text in my headline — that language should be JavaScript.

Let's kicking things off past exploring how programming is currently taught in school.

Computer Scientific discipline 101

Universities accept traditionally taught programming nether the umbrella of computer science, which itself is often seen as an extension of mathematics, or tie-in to an electrical engineering degree.

Of course, equally you may have heard by now:

"Reckoner scientific discipline instruction cannot make everyone an expert programmer whatsoever more than than studying brushes and pigment tin can brand somebody an good painter." — Eric S. Raymond

As of 2016, many universities still treat programming like it's estimator scientific discipline, and estimator science like it'southward math.

As a result, many introductory programming courses focus on low-level-of-abstraction languages like C, or mathematically-focused languages like MATLAB.

And section chairs by and large stay the course, pointing to almanac programming language leaderboards like the TIOBE Index, or this one from the IEEE:

Most of these leaderboards await virtually identical to how they were 10 years ago.

But change does happen. Even in academia.

In 2014, Python overtook Coffee as a the most popular language of instruction at top US Computer Science programs.

And yet another change is bound to… eventually… happen.

Because if yous look at the languages actually used by the workforce, it paints a very different movie:

1*fUxhG3xtbuyAH-NCPYs4lQ — JavaScript is by far the nearly pop language used by the 49,397 developers who responded to Stack Overflow's 2016 Survey.

More than one-half of all developers use JavaScript. It's vital to front-stop web development and increasingly relevant for dorsum-end development. And it's apace expanding into areas like game development and the Internet of Things.

Job postings likewise mention JavaScript more than any programming language other than Java:

1*Nju6ZEORusBE-4UB290Ftw — Data from the world's largest job posting aggregator, Indeed.com

Information technology's no blow that we built our open source community'south curriculum around JavaScript. Over the past two years, more than 5,000 people have used Free Code Military camp to get their get-go developer task.

I'g non advocating JavaScript because I teach it. I teach JavaScript because information technology'south the surest path to a first developer chore.

But is JavaScript right for you? Is it worthy of being your first programming language? Let'due south explore those factors I mentioned earlier.

Factor #1: The job market place

If you're learning to programme purely out of intellectual marvel, feel costless to skip this factor. But if y'all — like the vast bulk of people learning to plan — want to use this skill to get a job, this is an of import consideration.

Every bit I mentioned earlier, Coffee is mentioned in more than job postings than any other programming linguistic communication. JavaScript is a close second.

But here'south the matter nearly JavaScript: even though it'southward been around for 20 years, it just recently became a serious tool that companies like Netflix, Walmart, and PayPal would build unabridged applications around.

As a result, enough of companies are hiring JavaScript developers, merely there just aren't that many on the job market place.

1*EanhlHoMIsF-By0gRrAcYQ — Data from Indeed.com

At that place are 2.7 Java developers competing for every open Coffee position. Competition for PHP and iOS jobs is similarly violent.

But for every open JavaScript position, there are only 0.6 JavaScript developers. It is very much a sellers' market for developers with JavaScript skills.

Factor #2: The long term prospects

The average JavaScript project receives twice as many pull requests equally the average Java, Python, or Ruby projection. And on summit of this, JavaScript is growing faster than whatsoever other popular language.

1*-GxMW33X9Gb5lboyN02hKw — Source: The GitHub'southward 2016 Country of the Octoverse

JavaScript'due south ecosystem besides benefits from a heavy investment of coin and engineering talent from companies like Google, Microsoft, Facebook, and Netflix.

For case, TypeScript (a statically-typed superset of JavaScript) has more than 100 open source contributors, many of whom are Microsoft and Google employees being paid to work on it.

This type of inter-company cooperation is harder to find with Java. Oracle — who effectively owns Java through its acquisition of Dominicus Microsystems — often sues companies who attempt to expand upon it.

Factor #3: Difficulty to learn

1*d8TITW3skawGd-ioyHh2nQ — This is a parody of an XKCD comic.

Virtually programmers would agree that high-level scripting languages are relatively easy to acquire. JavaScript falls into this category, along with Python and Scarlet.

Even though universities withal teach languages similar Java and C++ as showtime languages, they're considerably harder to acquire.

Gene #4: Projects you can build with it

This is where JavaScript really shines. JavaScript runs on whatsoever device that has a browser, right there in the browser. You tin can build basically anything with JavaScript, and share information technology anywhere.

Because of JavaScript's ubiquity, Stack Overflow co-founder Jeff Atwood coined his now-famous law:

"Whatsoever awarding that can exist written in JavaScript, will eventually be written in JavaScript."

And with each passing calendar month, Atwood'southward Police holds strong.

Java in one case promised to run everywhere, also. Y'all may remember Java Applets. Oracle officially killed them off before this year.

Python suffers from much the same problems:

"How can I requite this game I made to my friend? Fifty-fifty better, is at that place a style can I put this on my telephone so I can show it to kids at schoolhouse without them having to install information technology? Um." — James Hague in Retiring Python as a Education Language

Past dissimilarity, here are some apps that members of our open source community built in their browsers on CodePen. You lot tin can click through and utilise these correct in your browser:

1*i-bre5pF0rk6Wgz5yjugjw — 1970s style Simon game

1*GtVQI4LUU0-_Soyhi93LBg — Conway's Game of Life

1*jkx-Vf8esZ0GYv_L6S2i9A — Star Wars-themed Wikipedia Search

1*PiI9yXaUNJANSffWvdotDQ — A roguelike dungeon crawler game

Larn one language well. Then learn a 2nd one.

If you go on jumping from language to language, you won't get far.

In club to movement beyond the basics, you need to learn your first language well. Then your second language will be much, much easier.

From at that place, you tin can branch out, and become a more well-rounded developer past learning lots of languages:

C is a great way to learn how computers actually work in terms of memory direction, and is useful in high-performance computing
C++ is cracking for game development.
Python is awesome for science and statistics.
Java is important if y'all want to piece of work at large tech companies.

Just larn JavaScript first.

OK, now I'thousand going to attempt the impossible — I'grand going to try and anticipate objections from the comments department.

Objection #1: But isn't JavaScript tiresome?

JavaScript is — for most practical purposes — every bit fast equally high-performance languages.

JavaScript (Node.js) is orders of magnitude faster than Python, Scarlet, and PHP.

It is also nearly equally fast every bit high-performance languages like C++, Coffee, and Go.

Here are the results of the most comprehensive contempo cantankerous-language benchmark:

Objection #2: But JavaScript isn't statically typed

Like Python and Ruby, JavaScript is dynamically typed, which is convenient. Only you can get into trouble. Hither I intend for exampleArray to be an array. I ready its values, and then check its length — meaning the number of elements it contains.

                exampleArray = [1, two] -> [1, 2]  exampleArray.length -> 2

But then I accidentally assign it to be a cord.

                exampleArray = "text" -> "text"  exampleArray.length -> 4

These kinds of errors happen all the fourth dimension in dynamically typed languages. About developers but put checks in place to prevent them, and write tests accordingly.

If y'all absolutely must have static typing in your kickoff programming linguistic communication, then I still recommend y'all acquire JavaScript commencement. And then you can speedily pick up TypeScript.

"Typescript has a learning curve, just if you already know JavaScript, it will be a smooth one." — Alex Ewerlöf on TypeScript

Objection #3: But I really want to make a mobile app

I still recommend learning JavaScript first.

JavaScript features several tools for making native mobile apps, such as Athwart Cordova and React Native.
In gild for your mobile app to actually practise anything interesting, it will probably need a proper dorsum finish, which you'll want to build with a proper web development framework, similar Node.js + Express.js.

As well, it's worth pointing out that the mobile app development's best days may very well be backside it.

For starters, as much as people employ mobile apps, nearly one-half of all developer jobs are web development. Compare this with a mere 8% of jobs that involve mobile app development.

1*6RsFHNgrzFyX-9p37FVtpA — The occupations of 49,525 developers, based on responses to the 2016 Stack Overflow survey.

The grand vision of "in that location's an app for that" has not come to laissez passer. Instead, most smartphone owners accept stopped downloading new apps.

Certain — they still apply apps. By and large Facebook, Google Maps, and handful of others. As such, much of the demand for mobile app developers is concentrated in a few large employers.

The outlook for those mobile development jobs is hard to forecast. Many aspects of developing, maintaining, and distributing mobile apps are easier with JavaScript. So companies like Facebook and Google are investing heavily in amend tools for building these using JavaScript.

As of 2016, pretty much all development is spider web development. Everything touches that big platform that is "the spider web." And the side by side wave of devices that y'all'll talk to effectually your habitation, and cars that pick your kids up from school — they'll all be piped together using the web, too.

And that means JavaScript.

Objection #iv: Isn't JavaScript a toy language that was written in 10 days?

JavaScript has a quirky history.

You volition undoubtedly hear people crack jokes at its expense.

Well people dearest to detest on C++, likewise. And similar JavaScript, C++ has succeeded despite this hate, and at present it'due south pretty much everywhere equally well.

So if anybody ever gives you a hard fourth dimension for learning JavaScript instead of aristocracy-language-of-the-calendar week, just remember the famous words of the guy who created C++: