I’ve been silent for a bit that’s mostly because I’ve been busy doing work that pays the bills, but today I’d to share some of my thoughts on the whole idea of programming languages. Hopefully by the end of this you’ll have some principles to live by when choosing your first language.
When talking about your first programming language, I’m referring to the language that you’re using to create something more than just a simple webpage. Knowing HTML and CSS is a must, but when it comes to the language that actually allows you to create something that’s a decision no one can really tell you which to choose except yourself. That is unless you’re working for a job that dicctates something very sepcific.
What People Say
It took me less than a minute to find what hundreds of other people have to say about how I or you should learn programming languges. As you can see i’ve started watching a few of them at different times in the past month.
The problem that I see here is that they are targeting a much wider audience. An audience that might be desperate or passionate about learning web development as fast as possible and just want to be told what to do. Which isn’t a bad thing at all it just makes it difficult for someone like me.
Mostly because I have a good job as a video producer. One I enjoy and I’m just learning to program beacuse I find it enjoyable and I want to contribute to the web. I might end up working as a programming sometime, I might not.
The other thing I’ve found is that many of these videos talk about the things that are hot 🔥 right now. They don’t/nor can they take into account the individual persons desires or passions.
Find Your Language
This brings me to how you find the first language that fits you, but first why I feel it’s important.
When it comes to programming language the fundemental principles are the same the difference is the syntax. If you learn one langauge really well you will find it easier to learn another and another etc. Getting that first language is the challange but I think that if you do these things you’ll find which language fits you the best so you can start learning and really enjoying it.
What is your passion
The first step is to know why you are wanting to learn programming in the first place. Is it to build websites? Make a web app that does something specific for your business? Wanting to compute data and present it? or Make games?
What you’re intersted in can really guide you to the language you need. Let’s take a look at me for a second. I have been using wordpress for more than 5 years now and I’ve picked up things here and there but I decided I wanted to learn javascript because well the new block editor is built on react and I found it super cool, but I because of my nature I wanted to know the other language aruond it might be good.
My whole goal was to help contribute to a platform that I enjoy using, and want to make it better.
The Community
Programming can be a solitary thing but the communities around projects and languages are vibrant. Taking the time to go to meetups of the different languages you’re interested can really help.
I have found some really great people and opportunities to learn new things by attending the meetups. I’m not promising that going to these meetups should your deciding factor but sometimes it helps to get a sense of the community.
The Syntax
The past year I have slowly but surely learning Javascript. The language itself isn’t the worst written language but I recently wanted to do something in PHP and was looking up a tutorial on laracasts. I found the same principles I was learning in javascript so much easier to remember and to code because the syntax just felt easier.
Perhaps the best way to say it is it is the language was easier to read. I had heard people say it but it wasn’t until the last week when I was learning PHP that I understood what that meant. I think that each person is different and a language that makes sense to me might not makes sense to you right away.
Take the time to try building something you’ve done in one langage and do it in another one to find the one that just clicks with you. I really think that find the language that clicks with you will make the learning process much more enjoyable and cause you to learn faster in the long run.
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