Don't know where to start programming, please help!

[Zetasis]

> I always had thought Zetasis was a programmer.
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> Oh well.

Haha, Thanks Yumi but no I do pixel art. Anyways, thanks for the replies guys. It seems that most are pushing for C# so I may just go with that. I know no body here recommends VB6 but seeing how it looks as simple as plain english I don't see why I shouldn't, other then its out dated, so wouldn't VB6 be the easiest to pick up and then go from there once I have a decent understanding of it?

[Mohenjo Daro]

> Haha, Thanks Yumi but no I do pixel art. Anyways, thanks for the replies guys. It seems that most are pushing for C# so I may just go with that. I know no body here recommends VB6 but seeing how it looks as simple as plain english I don't see why I shouldn't, other then its out dated, so wouldn't VB6 be the easiest to pick up and then go from there once I have a decent understanding of it?

If you want to learn VB6 because it's easy, then go for VB10, it's a whole lot nicer to work with and still pretty simple. Visual Basic is based off of English so it's easy to learn but it isn't the best language, just what I use and some other programmers.

So really, go C# and learn VB10 on the side is what I'd recommend.

P.S. if you want VB10 pro then pm me.

[Marsh]

> I agree with Marsh in general ([except the C++ bit](http://article.gmane.org/gmane.comp.version-control.git/57918)) but why not Python? It's a very easy to learn popular language, I'd like to hear what arguments people have against it.

Articles like that are silly. If its so bad why do like 90% of game companies use it?

[unknown]

> Articles like that are silly. If its so bad why do like 90% of game companies use it?

The reason I linked to that email is because Linus Torvalds wrote it. '90% of game companies use it' because there's a lot of code and libraries written in C++ and up until recently there were no real alternatives for AAA studios. I think C++'s popularity with large game companies will change when graphical libraries/resources for Go and Rust mature.

There's more lines of COBOL written than any other language. Just because something is popular doesn't make it good.

[Lenton]

Learn [golang](http://golang.org) :)

[Marsh]

> The reason I linked to that email is because Linus Torvalds wrote it. '90% of game companies use it' because there's a lot of code and libraries written in C++ and up until recently there were no real alternatives for AAA studios. I think C++'s popularity with large game companies will change when graphical libraries/resources for Go and Rust mature.
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> There's more lines of COBOL written than any other language. Just because something is popular doesn't make it good.

Well I am not sure I agree with that but its all opinion I guess. I also suppose its what you want to learn programming for. If its to get a job or to utilize the current code out there c++ may be smart. But if you are writing nothing but you own stuff I guess c could work better.

[Mal]

There's honestly two sides to this coin (the question you posed).  The first side is simply, "What language can be used to adequately and quickly teach programming principles or theory?"; questions like "what are the two data types (value vs. reference) used in programming and what falls under each?" are not dependent on any specific language.  The higher level the language, in my opinion, the better in regards to the "first side"; you're able to pick up on syntax quickly and in turn you're able to immediately utilize learned concepts.

The second side, and more or less the determining factor on what set of languages you learn first, is syntax.  Languages can be categorized by level of abstraction away from machine/native code.  The further away you are from machine/native and the closer you are to human readable the higher level the language is; the closer to machine the lower.  That being said, the lower you go the more time you'll spend learning syntax and language specific caveats regarding it's usage and implementation.  The higher you go the easier it will be to pick up on.

I would personally advise learning plain, good ole fashioned C first.  Learn what data types are and their differences, what a class and struct are and the differences between them (goes along with value vs reference too), and learning C will force you to learn (and this part I disliked after knowing VB6 and C#/.NET) the operational flow and scope of a program.  It'll give you a good understanding of basic concepts that you can carry over to any language and you'll have a head start on C syntax that you can also carry over to C++, C#, Java, JScript, etc.

If you want to dive right into Object-Oriented Programming alongside learning the fundamentals then I would advise going with C#.  There's an e-book entitled "Visual C# 2010 Step by Step" by John Sharp that I used to learn C# in 2 weeks (I knew VB6 prior, but OO concepts were very foreign to me).  Pluralsight is also an amazing paid resource that I used to hone my skillset.

Use what you feel would be plausible.  Do a little research, gather resources (books, tutorials, youtube videos, etc), and dive in.  It can be overwhelming at first but don't give up. Good luck!