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How to learn Multiple Programming Languages
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How to learn Multiple Programming Languages
INTRODUCTION
Many code beginners find themselves overwhelmed at the thought of learning multiple programming languages and sometimes even give up learning to code when their peers or friends comment that a programmer needs to know multiple languages and it is hard to get jobs without knowing several programming languages. While this statement is absolutely true, however, there is no reason to get alarmed as you need not learn all the coding languages simultaneously in the beginning of your learning journey and also there are several methods to follow whereby you can safely learn many programming languages in your learning phase.
DECIDING YOUR VERY FIRST PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
Before learning multiple languages, it is vital to learn your very first programming language and then once you are firmly grounded on this language, you could proceed to learn other languages as this makes your learning journey less burden-some. Since it is your very first programming language, you could learn it from a free website to test the ground before spending heavy fees on something that you are not very sure of at the beginning of your learning phase. It would be a very good idea to read my blog post on Top Free Websites To Learn Coding For Free, so that you could get some idea on deciding your very first programming language, for full free!
To get confidence in your first language, it is important to learn the basics first so that you understand the concepts well, ground up! Practise lots of concepts by doing mini projects every time you learn a small lesson and by documenting all the code syntaxes as well as the concepts . Once you have documented your code and also the projects, it becomes easier to do intermediate and then advanced levels in this programming language. To go deeper in understanding the steps of learning your first coding language efficiently, you can refer to my other post on Guide to Learning Coding Efficiently and Effectively.
MAKE A GOAL FOR YOUR PREFERRED LEARNING PATH
Making a GOAL is very important for any decision to be successful. Do not set off to learn programming by starting to learn any coding language randomly. You need to sit down to decide and make a goal for your learning journey. What do you wish to be at the end of your learning pathway? What job exactly in programming industry, do you see yourself after learning some programming languages ? Do you want to be a full stack web developer, a front end web developer, a backend web developer, a software developer?
If you aim to be a full-stack web developer, for instance, you need to sit down and make a full road map for your goal. This map will indicate what all languages you need to learn to achieve your goal of becoming qualified to work as a full-stack web developer. For example, a full-stack developer will include languages, such as HTML, CSS, JavaScript, React, Mongo dB, Next.js, Node.js or it could be a combination of HTML, CSS, JavaScript and Python or HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP or HTML, CSS, JavaScript, Java etc.
If you aim to be a front end web developer, the easiest languages to get started with are HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.
If you aim to be a back end web developer, the popular languages to get started would be either Python, Java or PHP.
If you have dreams to be a Software Engineer, then, you need to learn many languages such as Python, Ruby, Java, JavaScript, C++, SQL, PHP, Rust etc. To be an Engineer, it is important to know not only coding but also, complex algorithms, for which it would be easy as a beginner to learn Python due to it's English like code syntaxes. After learning Python, you could learn JavaScript, then PHP, and the rest of the languages as mentioned in this paragraph.
If you aim to be a Dev Ops, some of the best programming languages to learn would be Python, Java, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby etc, out of which Python would be your best option followed by Java. Python is for automation and Java for doing lots of large scale industrial Applications. So, a combination of Python and Java would be good for this career goal.
In case, you wish to be a Data Scientist, then, Python should be your first priority followed by R, Java and SQL.
UNDERSTAND DIFFERENCES IN SYNTAXES
It is very important to learn the syntax differences while learning to code in different languages or else you could end up with a messy code. For example, for commenting a line of code in JavaScript, you need to use a double slash, whereas, you need to use a hash symbol for commenting a code line in Python. You need to use semi colon after every piece of code in JavaScript, but you don't use semi colons in Python.
UNDERSTAND SIMILARITIES IN CONCEPTS
Most programming languages have similarity in concepts and you just need to understand well rather than memorize their code syntaxes. For example in every language, you have the concept of loops , iteration, and objects. It is always better to sit down with the concepts of different languages side by side and jot down the concepts on paper one by one after you learn or while you are learning more than one programming language, so that you are not bogged down by the pressure of multiple coding languages.
DO PROJECTS INVOLVING BOTH THE LANGUAGES
It would be a good idea to do the same project , for example, consider doing a to do app in JavaScript and also Python, then, you will never get confused on the syntaxes and concepts of both these languages. After you learn a third coding language, say, Java, try doing the same to do app in Java as well. This is the best way to deepen your understanding and grasp the concepts as well as the code syntaxes to a deeper level.
FIND A THIRD PROGRAMMING LANGUAGE
After you learn two programming languages, try to find a third language that is geared to take you to your career path. For example, if you are interested to become a full stack web developer, then, after learning JavaScript and Node.js, try to learn a third language such as either PHP or Python in whichever order you deem fit as per your learning goals. In the end, for a full stack developer, it would be a good idea to know, JavaScript, Node.js, PHP and Python. Now, note that even if you know so many multiple languages, your expertise may lie in one or two of these languages and that is absolutely perfect in the beginning. Once you start working in the industry, slowly, your expertise in all the languages will pick up one by one and you cannot expect to be an expert in all the languages you have learnt in the first instance itself!
CONSIDER WHAT PROJECTS CAN BE DONE
After learning more than one programming language, it is essential to do lots of mini and mega projects in both the languages or all the languages that you have learnt so far or still learning as projects will help to reiterate your memory levels and also to keep up with the concepts and syntaxes of all the languages that you have learnt. You will learn and understand more as you keep practising on projects, so, it is always a good idea to learn through project practice rather than sit and study the code.
CONCLUSION
Many people think that they will get a Programmer's job by just learning one programming language but it is not true at all! You need to learn multiple programming languages if you want to land yourself a good job in the industry. Again, when I say that you need to learn multiple programming languages to secure a good job in the software industry, that does not mean that you have to learn so many programming languages simultaneously. As a beginner learning to code, it is always advisable to stick to one language and once you are confident about the concepts on this language and can do some projects relatively well in this language, then, you could proceed to your second programming language and so on. Hence, by adding up your coding languages one at a time, you accumulate the wealth of learning multiple programming languages.
You may also find the following posts useful as a beginner:
What Programming Language Should You Learn First As A Beginner
How To Fight Programmer's Imposter Syndrome
How To Remember Code In Your Learning Phase
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