Best Programming Language to Start With

How to Plan your First Approach to Computer Software Building

Aug 9, 2008

Choosing the first programming language to learn is never an easy task, and the most common choices in university courses are not necessarily the best for your needs.

Taking your first steps in the world of computer programming can be a daunting task for novices, and choosing what language to start with is certainly a big part of this process. While most universities will start by teaching their student the ANSI C99, this is not necessarily always the best choice.

Technical universities and colleges throughout the world often choose C as the first programming language to teach their students. Often cited reasons for this choice include the low-level and function-oriented approach required by the programmer, its high speed and versatility, and the fact that many of the languages that have been developed during the following decades derive their syntax from this particular language.

The ANSI C99 standard accomplishes the task of teaching low-level aspects of the internal functioning of some essential compiler components such as the parser and the linker, introducing students to a strict and logically structured programming philosophy at the same time.

Because of its features, C99 tends to be an excellent starting point for all technical-oriented students who will later go on to write computer programs for a living. However, an ever-growing number of universities have started inserting computer programming as a part of the required student curricula, in order to encourage their students to enhance the problem solving skills that inevitably come with programming experience.

For such courses, the C programming language may not be the best choice at all: there are, in fact, many other languages that serve this objective in a much more elegant and abstract way, without forcing the student to get lost in the nitty-gritty of hardware and compiler implementations.

A notorious example that goes against the flow comes from the MIT, which features Scheme (a Lisp dialect) as the language featured in their introductive course to programming. The reasons for this choice are the extremely simple syntax of the language, which takes no more than a few hours to fully undestand, thus enabling the students to focus on problem solving rather than irrelevant technical details.

In order to make an informed decision on what programming language to start with, you should always consider what your final objectives are: why are you taking up programming in the first place? Do you think it will be a predominant part of your working life, or do you just want to enhance your problem solving skills?

In case you chose the latter, such high-level interpreted programming languages as Lisp or Python should be your choice; but if you are passionate about programming per se and your goal is trying to understand the low-level mechanisms that make your PC work, the C programming language is the right option for you.

The copyright of the article Best Programming Language to Start With in Computer Programming Languages is owned by Dario Borghino. Permission to republish Best Programming Language to Start With in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.