What Programming Language Should You Learn First As A Beginner?

What Programming Language Should You Learn First As A  Total Beginner? 

Learning your first programming language can be a very daunting affair indeed! I will help

you  decide how to make a choice of your very first programming language as a beginner in

coding. There are several factors to consider before deciding what programming language to

choose as a beginner. Let us go over all the factors one by one to help you reach your

decision smoothly.

Career Goals

The main reason that you want to learn programming or coding is very important for you to

think about , before you even consider what language you should go for as a beginner. 

Are you learning programming to become a game developer, front-end web developer, 

back-end  web developer, full-stack web developer, data scientist, artificial intelligence, web3

developer, software engineer, wordpress developer, web designer, cyber security expert,

game designer, no-code developer etc.

I will give you a brief overview of different programming languages and what each can offer

in terms of its functionalities , and after reading that , I would also expect you to browse the

internet to research the different languages , based on your goals and interests.

If you want to be a Game Developer, then, you need to know, first of all, what is game

development? Game development is the process of building Games that users can interact

with, in real time, using your coding skills , whereby you are using the concept of the

particular Game and also building the exact unique interface and architecture for users to

interact while playing the Game that you created. I am not going in to the details of the types

of Games, as I leave it to you to figure out by a bit of research and also,

since you opted to be a game developer, you are expected to know the different types of

games available in the market and the demand of these games in the market! Also, writing

on the details of different games is not within the scope of this paragraph, where I am

actually focusing on what programming languages you need to learn for game development .

I would suggest you to  learn C++, C# and Java though JavaScript and Python could also

help you to develop Games, but, I am strictly focusing on the top most priorities being C++,

C# and Java for Game development. I would still suggest you dig a bit further into the

internet and YouTube and social media platforms, in order to figure out a bit more about

each of these languages. I must warn you here that C++ being the best and most popular

gaming language, is one of the hardest programming languages ever, so be very sure about

learning this language before going ahead with it. Hence, I would suggest you to learn

C# first as a newbie, if you want to go for game development as C# is much easier than C++

and Java. With C#, you would be coding Unity Games and I am sure, you are already aware

of what unity games are ?

If you want to be a front-end web-designer/developer, then, as a beginner, I will suggest you

the best programming language here and it is none other than JavaScript. For doing web

designing, you also need to learn HTML5 and CSS3 along with JavaScript, in order to

design the web, the main reason being that JavaScript is a hard core programming language

and HTML5 is a hyper-text MarkUp language for the web pages, it is actually the framework

of the web page itself. CSS3 stands for Cascading Style Sheets and it is CSS3 that displays 

and styles the html code of the web page and beautifies the HTML elements in the way that

we specify. For instance, it is CSS that decides to colour the background of a web page or

colour the navigation bar and what colour and size to be displayed on the screen output

visually, based on the CSS code that we feed to style the html elements.

I would suggest you to browse the web further to go deeper into HTML and CSS codes, and

play around in both html and css, to understand if you have any interest in it. JavaScript

would actually provide the functionalities for the web page, like, for instance, being greeted

by the website when a user logs into the page or the process of signing up for a web page and

creating password  that is stored uniquely for the user to be identified , every time, the user

signs in to the web page.

If you want a career as a front-end Web Developer, then, you also need to learn a framework

from JavaScript after learning HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript. I would recommend React.js

as it is one of the most in-demand frameworks in JavaScript. Learning React will help you to

build more complicated websites and apps for the front-end web development.

If you want to be a back-end web developer, then Python is your best bet, but again,

nowadays, companies love to hire either front end or even better , full-stack. Sometimes, you

will be hired for a front end web developer job but you may be asked to learn back end

development to either help coordination with the back-end team or even work in the back-end

as well due to shortage of staff as it is very common to hire little staff and get maximum

output from them! So, keeping this post-covid economic crisis in the job  industry, it would

actually be a better idea to learn both front-end as well as back-end web development if you

aim to be a web developer. Moreover, you will get a better grasp of the web as a whole if you

learn both the front-end and the back-end development. In this scenario, I would suggest you

first learn the front-end development and then go for the back-end. So, you should learn

HTML5,CSS3 and JavaScript followed by React and then Python for the back-end. Node.js

is also a back-end web development language, but I would not recommend you to learn

Node.js in the beginning.

You can revert back to Node.js after you complete learning Python since Python is a more

beginner friendly back-end programming language as compared to Node.js. If you are s

omeone who prefers to learn the back-end programming language first, then, by all means

go for Python as it is a more beginner- friendly English-like programming language and

easier to grasp as compared to Node.js. The reason I suggested learning JavaScript before

learning Python , was to help you to visualise the web using JavaScript, HTML and CSS and

then get into the back-end features of the app or website. Using Python, you can do several

server-side behind the scenes complex  functions for  maintaining the system whereas

JavaScript is meant for the client-side elements that you can actually see as a user when you

sign up on a web site or app. After learning Python , you need to learn the most important

frameworks of Python, namely, Flask and Django that are very important for your back-end

web applications and websites.

If you want to be a full-stack web developer, which is really a good choice of career in

technology, you should go ahead with the above front-end and back-end programming

languages combined as I have already mentioned all the features and benefits of the

languages above. Some of you who are more keen on JavaScript, may find it easier to opt for

JavaScript for front-end and Node.js for the backend as Node.js is easier to follow since it is

from the JavaScript family and have similar code, but, I personally prefer Python for the

backend even though I have done Node.js for the backend.

If you wish to be a web3 developer, then, also, it is a good idea to learn JavaScript language

first in the beginning before opting for the web3 languages such as html,, css and javascript

are used in the front end for web3 development and the backend languages for web3 are the

popular languages such as Solidity, Golang, Haskell and Rust .

If you like to be a Data Scientist, then, note that the most popular languages for this career

are Python, R, Julia, Matlab, SQL and C++. I would recommend you to learn Python first

before going ahead with the rest of those mentioned here as Python is easier to learn in the

beginning due to its English-like resemblance.

If you like a career in Machine Learning, the most popular languages for this career are

Python, R, Java, Julia and Java and to some extent, JavaScript as well. But, I would strongly

recommend you to learn Python first for the same reasons that I mentioned about Python

earlier in this post. After learning Python, you may go for R and Java to make your career

position strong.

Cyber Security professionals are much in demand these days due to too much threat on the

internet and you need to learn the following languages for this are Python, C, C++,

JavaScript, HTML, SQL, and PHP. Of course, Python is the best language to learn first in this

career as well. But, nobody learns cyber security first, since you are advised to learn web

development first prior to learning the cyber security course as you want to be familiar

with the web development and then go ahead and learn how the cyber security works around

it.

For being a Wordpress developer, you need to learn the languages HTML5, CSS3,

JavaScript and PHP. It is advisable to learn JavaScript with HTML5 and CSS3 first before

proceeding to PHP as the latter can turn out to be too complex for beginners in coding the

web.

The last option is to be a low-code developer where you will be using a bit of coding in

HTML, CSS , JavaScript and PHP to design low code platforms. For a no-code developer,

as the name suggests, you don't need to learn coding but it still helps to know basic HTML,

CSS and JavaScript coding skills if you want to use drag and drop websites such as Shopify,

Wix and SquareSpace etc.

If you want to pursue a career in software engineering, you need to learn several

programming languages including Java, SQL, JavaScript, C#, Python, PHP, etc and hence,

in this case, you are advised to choose Python as your first language so that you can

compete learning all the other languages easily after mastering Python as it is so easy to

master the core concepts of programming by learning Python and then applying the same

concepts to all the other languages, though the syntaxes are different. Learning programming

language should be more about understanding the core concepts and algorithms rather than

learning the syntaxes and this is easily achievable by learning the English looking Python.

If you learn a difficult programming language as a beginner, then you spend more time

grasping concepts as well as syntaxes, then, you consume more time of your learning phase

and thereby take more time reaching your career goals.

Time allocation for learning

Based on your lifestyle and current time schedules, you need to figure out how many hours

you can dedicate to learning and practising coding. This depends on your lifestyle , if you are

a student or a working adult and how many hours you are free to sit down to learn from your

busy or not so busy schedule. Once you decide your learning schedule, stick with it, and be

consistent with it. If you have lots of learning time on hand, then, you can learn even the

most complex language but, if you are short of time, it is always better

to learn the easiest language first before moving on to the complex programming

languages. I would suggest you in that case, to learn Python as it is the easiest programming

language due to its English-like language resemblance, thereby shortening your learning

time to less than half the duration as required for other languages.

Educational Background

If you are from a Computer Science background or from a Science background with some

digging around in Mathematics and Logical thinking, it would be much helpful in learning

any programming language, though, it is not completely essential to have such a

background to go ahead with learning a programming language. However, if you have no

computer science related background, and you still want to learn Programming, I would

recommend you to learn Python or JavaScript as your first programming language. Learn

one language first and after understanding the basic concepts such as logical reasoning,

database structures and algorithm based project completion, you could proceed to the next

language of your choice , as it would be much easier to learn other languages once you have

mastered either Python or JavaScript as most of the concepts and reasonings are going to be

same in all other languages but easier for you to understand as a total beginner when you

attempt projects in Python or JavaScript as a beginner.

Ease of Learning a Programming Language

When you attempt learning a programming language, it is very important to consider the ease

of learning factor, especially if you are a beginner in this industry. As a code newbie, I would

suggest that you learn Python first before even learning JavaScript, due to its ease of learning

as it is so close to the English language and understanding the code syntaxes would be much

easier . 

Tutorials and Resources available

The availability of resources and open source materials and tutorials goes a long way in

helping to learn a programming language due to the vast support from the respective

community in that language. Python and JavaScript stands first in this point and you can

happily learn either Python or JavaScript if you are concerned about finding lots of resources

and help for this language and unable to invest capital in joining a major university or

coaching centre or expensive mentors to learn a language. Also, due to its ease of learning ,

both Python and JavaScript free classes offered online either on YouTube classes, Github or

blogs are all excellent resources to learn as your very first programming language.

Job Market for the Programming Language

Before making the decision to choose your first Programming language, you also need to

consider the demand for the chosen language in the job market where you are trying to find

jobs.

If you are looking for remote jobs in any country, then, you only need to consider the demand

for that language, in your chosen industry, be it, web development, software development,

machine learning, data science, machine learning etc. However, if you are looking for jobs in

your country of residence, then, you need to check out the demand for that particular

language in that country because demands for different programming languages are different

in different countries.  For example, in Malaysia, the most in-demand programming

language is Java whereas, In the United States, Python dominates over other languages and

in India, the most in-demand language is JavaScript. Hence, you need to figure out which

programming language is in demand based on your location in case you decide to work in

your country of residence.

Your preference for full-time/freelance job

This might seem like a small factor to you, but it is really important when it comes to

selecting your first programming language. If you are aiming for a full-time  or part-time

job in programming or web development, then, you need to learn not just one but a set of

programming language in order to qualify on a particular career path, such as, learning

HTML, CSS, JavaScript ,SQL and Python for a full-stack web developer's job or learning

HTML, CSS, JavaScript and PHP for a WordPress developer's job.

On the contrary, if you are looking out for freelance job opportunities, then, you need

not learn a lot of languages, you could get your first job by just learning one language. Let's

say, you learnt just Python only, and you can easily get a freelance job using either

social media or popular freelance platforms such as Fiverr or Upwork etc because it is

more like your own business and you can just opt to learn just one skill and work on it. In

such a case, learning just Python helps as there are lots of freelance opportunities based on

Python alone. Another language that has lots of demand when learning just one language is

PHP, because you can use this skill to procure freelance jobs in WordPress coding

assignments. Many users want help in setting up their WordPress blog and this skill will

come in handy any time.

CONCLUSION

After reading through the various factors that help you to choose your first Programming

Language as a total beginner, I hope you are clear on your learning goals by now! Once you

identify all the factors that determine your learning phase, namely, your career goals, time

allocation, educational background, ease of learning, tutorial and resources available, the

job market and your job preference etc can help you to identify your first Programming

Language in your learning phase. Identifying your first programming language is really

very important and critical in achieving your career goals and also saves you a lot of pain

in your learning phase.

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