Hello friend,
get ready for the millionth “best beginner programming language” post in history.
I’m still fairly new on Twitter, at least in regards to tweeting myself. One of my most popular posts lately was about, if JavaScript or Python is the better programming language for beginners. So I thought, why not write a little more about it. Since it seems to be a popular topic all the time.
In this post, I will tell you, which programming language is the best for beginners, in my opinion. And by no means am I an expert. But over the years I tried a lot of different languages and took courses on them. It feels like I started taking programming courses not that long ago, even though it was years ago.
The thing is, the best programming language for me might not be the best for you. It depends on your goals and preferences. That’s why I will also talk about the different use cases of the languages, which I would recommend.
So, which programming languages should we even compare? The TIOBE index is a good starting point.
The TIOBE Programming Community index is an indicator of the popularity of programming languages. The index is updated once a month. The ratings are based on the number of skilled engineers world-wide, courses and third party vendors. Popular search engines such as Google, Bing, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, Amazon, YouTube and Baidu are used to calculate the ratings. It is important to note that the TIOBE index is not about the best programming language or the language in which most lines of code have been written.
It ranks programming languages in popularity, so let’s take a look at the top 10. Because top 10 lists are great.
1. Python
Aah… here we are, first place. Python. I’m a huge fan of Python. It is so incredibly versatile. And since it’s a scripting language, it is very easy to use your scripts and programs on every platform. So what can you do with python?
Data analysis and machine learning? Check.
Web development? Check.
General scripting/automation? Check.
You can also program games and GUI applications. Maybe not as comfortable as in other languages, but it is possible, GUI apps I mean. Additionally, its syntax is very easy to understand for beginners. And no matter what you want to do, there are probably libraries or modules for it in python. Scrape a website? Send http requests? Craft your own network packets? Modify an excel sheet? Send an email? There are modules for it. So yeah, if you ask me, Python is a great choice and the best beginner programming language. One downside is, that it is not as fast as other languages, but in most use-cases, you won’t recognize that. Especially if you are just starting out.
As a factor of comparison, I will also tell you how many jobs there are for it. In my area at least. For python, that would be 701 – let’s see what that looks like for the other languages.
2. C
I don’t have that much experience with C myself. It is a low-level language with direct access to memory. So it is very fast, but you have to work with pointers to manage the memory usage of your programs yourself. Most other languages will do that by themselves. Another thing is, that it has no object-orientation. But it is still a very widely used programming language and if you want to program operating systems or hardware projects, it might be the language for you.
And 719 C/C++ developer jobs in my area.
3. Java
Okay… there are a lot of memes about Java out there. But actually, it’s not that bad. Keep in mind, that we are talking about Java, not JavaScript (that’s trash… kinda). Java was designed, to be very portable. Its programs run in the Java Virtual Machine (JVM), which has to be installed on your system, but as long as that is the case, it doesn’t matter which operating system you are using. Your program works. The syntax is not that bad either, it’s similar to C# (more on that later). It is still widely used and a solid choice for beginners. And damn, 1435 jobs for Java developers, that’s a lot. Oh, and if you want to program Android apps, Java is also a good idea.
4. C++
Well… no, the syntax is strange and seems unnecessarily complex. Learn it if you have to, for your job or school, but in general, I wouldn’t use it, especially as a beginner. Only if you like to suffer. There are some jobs for C++ developers in my area though – 427. But a lot of them are from the C/C++ categorie.
5. C#
C# on the other hand is nice. It’s one of my most used languages since I worked mostly on Windows GUI apps for my job. The syntax is nice, as I said earlier, similar to Java and easy to pick up and you can do a lot of things with it. Windows applications are a huge part, but you can also use it for web development, Android apps, or even macOS and Linux apps. It is pretty versatile. Oh, and if you want to get into game development, Unity supports C#. 704 Jobs for C# developers
6. Visual Basic
No.
I don’t know why it is still so popular. Maybe because of Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) which allows you to write MS Excel macros. But besides that, I don’t know why somebody would recommend Visual Basic. Okay, to be honest, I used it for that too and I even wrote a windows logon script in it. Still, can’t recommend it.
35 job postings aren’t that much either.
7. JavaScript
Here it is, my nemesis.
Yes, it is great for web development. It can probably handle everything web-related. Front-end, back-end, and even game development. But compared to other languages, it has a very strange feel to it. If you are already somewhat familiar with other languages like C#, Java, or Python, JavaScript will feel strange, even if it looks very similar. Some things just behave differently compared to other programming languages. Good thing if you are a beginner, you won’t recognize that. So if you are new to programming and just want to develop for the web, JavaScript is a great choice for sure. Check out HTML and CSS before it though.
571 job postings mentioning JavaSript around here.
8. SQL
SQL stands for Structured Query Language. It’s not a real programming language, but it is used for databases. To create them, get data into them or get data out of them, everything is done with SQL. Every programmer should at least know the basics of SQL since most programs use some kind of database. SQL was also the reason why I got my first job in IT, you can read about it here. And it is not that complicated, the basics are pretty easy to pick up.
That’s why SQL has a special place in my heart. And there are even 1291 job posts mentioning SQL – not bad.
9. Assembly Language
Well… no, not for a beginner. Assembly is kinda the lowest level of programming you can get, before writing machine code in zeros and ones. Most programs nowadays are written in high-level languages, there is no need for you to know Assembly. And if you need it, you can always pick it up later. It won’t go anywhere.
My job posting site says there are 200 jobs mentioning assembly, but those which I looked at, don’t even mention it with a single word.
10. Swift
Swift is a programming language developed by Apple. It is used for Apple’s whole ecosystem, so if you want to develop apps for iPhone, iPad, or Mac? Swift is your choice. I haven’t used it much yet, but it’s not that bad. Way better than Objective-C which was used before it. Well, but there are not a lot of jobs for it (at least in my area, only ~100).
So which one is it now?
So those are the 10 most popular programming languages out there. But which one is the best programming language for beginners? As I said, it depends – I would recommend Python for most people. “But what about JavaScript?!?!”, yes I hear you. If you want to develop solely for the web, it’s also a great choice. It always depends on what you want to do. If you want to be an iPhone app developer? Go for Swift. Do you have to learn a specific language for your school or your job? Great, learn that one. But no matter what, learn SQL.
In the end, it doesn’t matter which language you learn. It probably won’t be your last and once you understand the basic concepts behind programming, it will become way easier to learn a new one.
I hope this post was helpful or at least entertaining, and if you have any comments – let me know.