Start with JavaScript
There are 2 things for you to consider when choosing a programming language to start learning with:
- How easy do you want it to be?
- Which industry do you want to work in?
🛣 Taking the easy road
Not all programming languages are created equal. Some are easy, some are hard. The easier to learn a language is, the less control you’ll have. The more control you have, the greater the learning curve.
Think of a programming language like a car. A manual gives you more control, but takes longer to learn. An automatic is easier to use, but gives you less control.
Some people want to be in control, e.g. memory management, it lets them optimise performance — this is why industrial scale, mission critical software tends to be written in C and C++. Whereas others don’t want to get bogged down in the low-level detail, they just want to get moving.
JavaScript falls into the easy column. It has a forgiving syntax. Think of it like learning French for the first time. If you need to speak with perfect grammar before anyone can understand you, it would take longer to start a conversation!
👨💻 Why do you want to learn coding?
If you’re learning as a hobby, then your choice of programming language isn’t a big deal. If your learning to pursue a career, then your choice matters. There’s no point learning Ruby if you want to become a games developer.
💰 A safe bet
JavaScript’s a safe bet. It’s been around for a long time, and it’s going to be around for a long time.
It was the most popular language among developers for the 8th year running in Stack Overflow’s 2020 Developer Survey.
It’s used by the world’s most popular sites — Facebook, Twitter , Gmail, YouTube etc.
🎨 What can you do with it?
A major upside with JavaScript is that you can develop a wide range of applications:
- Front-end web development
- Back-end web development (using NodeJS)
- Mobile apps (using NativeScript or React Native)
- Desktop apps (Using Electron)
- Games (using Phaser)
Now, you’re not going to use one language for everything in the real world, but it makes it easier to learn new concepts if you don’t have to learn a new language at the same time.
I also believe it’s incredibly unlikely you’ll go through your personal or professional dev life without using JavaScript, so it’s a great skill to have.
What do you think? Would you choose a different language to get started?