How should I get started with programming? Which language should I learn first?

Re:How should I get started with programming? Which language... by bpeters on Wednesday February 02, 2011 @01:16AM (#2169281)

Could always do it the academic way.... C, then C++, then Java, back to C++, back to Java. Once you graduated you will have learned no language mastery, just how to to think like a programmer... If that is what you want

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Re:How should I get started with programming? Which language... by 2arrs2ells on Wednesday February 02, 2011 @03:54AM (#2169591)

Is this really the standard "academic way"?

At my school, CS classes started in C, did a touch of PHP/JS, then a functional language (was scheme, now OCaml), and then a giant hodgepodge of whatever you/the professor wanted.

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Re:How should I get started with programming? Which language... by wlievens on Wednesday February 02, 2011 @04:50AM (#2169687)

We started with Scheme, then in the second year C++ and some Common Lisp. Later Smalltalk. You learned Java on your own, which is near trivial if you know C++ and Scheme.

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Re:How should I get started with programming? Which language... by sliverstorm on Wednesday February 02, 2011 @04:48AM (#2169684)

Java and C are the most common staples, and at lower-grade schools potentially the only languages.

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Re:How should I get started with programming? Which language... by sliverstorm on Wednesday February 02, 2011 @04:50AM (#2169686)

Once you graduated you will have learned no language mastery, just how to to think like a programmer... If that is what you want

Which, honestly, isn't necessarily a bad thing. If you know how to think, and you have experience with a language that's at least something like what you want to learn, you can pick up almost anything quickly.

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