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Is there any use in learning an "easy" programming language? (sh.itjust.works)
submitted 4 months ago by to c/programming@programming.dev
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I have been thinking of learning some programming recently, but I don't feel confident enough. Is there any point in beginning with something like Zig or Go, and switching to something more serious later?

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[–] 10 points 4 months ago (7 children)

Zig and Go are serious. I think Python would be a language that isn't serious (despite it's widespread use in serious applications) but has a reputation for being easy. I don't know if that reputation is really deserved.

Anyway I would start with one of Python, Go or Typescript (via Deno). I would avoid Rust, Haskell, OCaml, C++ as your very first language, but they could be your second.

Whatever you do don't learn Python and stop there. That's the way to be a crap programmer. And if you do use Python learn to use type hints early on.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago* (4 children)

    1 agree with everything you wrote besides the Deno?

    why Deno?

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    Typescript projects are a significant effort to set up with the traditional tooling (NPM & Node). With Deno you can literally just create a .ts file and run it.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago (1 child)

    I feel like Python is sometimes too powerful in terms of what you can achieve with few lines of code. It tends to have lines that do a lot of things at once and therefore become very hard to understand despite not having a lot of code at the surface.

    In my opinion it is very good for stuff like data analysis and scripting test setups, but (with my admittedly limited experience in the area) I dislike using it for larger applications. Because it is a scripting language and not compiled, I have run into errors that a compiled language would have detected before even starting. Meanwhile python was happy to run my program until it unfortunately branched into the defective path...

    If you want to build stuff quickly it is incredibly what you can achieve with it though.

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  • [–] 1 point 4 months ago

    Because it is a scripting language and not compiled, I have run into errors that a compiled language would have detected before even starting.

    Use type hints. Pyright in strict mode. (Don't use mypy, it's much worse.)

    I agree though, it is poorly suited to larger applications. Mainly because of its glacial speed.

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