The Easiest and Hardest Programming Languages to Learn
Computer systems are completely dependent on human beings to train them to take decisions. Everything a computer does, is somewhere, sometime, instructed by a human being. As computers do not understand the languages human beings speak, in order to instruct the computer systems about the tasks to perform, computer-friendly languages are used which are called programming languages.
Computers only understand the language of 0 and 1, but programming in binary numbers is a tedious task and prone to frequent mistakes hence with time high-level languages have been developed which consist of English language words to help human beings program the computer systems easily and perform the required tasks. Different languages are used behind different technologies one sees today like Software, Websites, Applications, Artificial Intelligence (AI) applications, Machine Learning (ML) processes, Natural Language Processing (NLP) conversational systems, and more.
Here is an elaborative discussion of the hardest and easiest programming languages.
Things to know before starting to learn any programming language
Prior to learning any computer programming language, one thing to keep in mind is that any programming language no matter how easy or hard requires time and effort to learn. Therefore, it is important to research thoroughly and choose a programming language that is aligned with the career path one is determined to establish.
Market value and functionality have nothing to do with how hard or easy the programming language is. The ultimate choice must be made keeping the usefulness of the language in mind. A good thing about computer programming languages is that the basic concepts like the use of conditional statements and iterative statements to make logical decisions are similar.
Easiest Programming Languages to Learn
HTML
HTML is short for Hypertext Markup Language. There has been a lot of discussion on HTML language being a complete programming language mainly because of the fact that technically it is not a functionality-based language but a Markup Language. This means that HTML cannot create functions and perform typical programming tasks as it does not support the usage of iterative, conditional statements, or even simple mathematical operations like all the other programming languages. However, HTML is a fundamental language used to structure web pages and content. It uses several tags and labels to define the web page content and with the help of certain tags, it helps make websites accessible and SEO optimized. Despite being necessary for the web development industry, HTML is an extremely easy programming language to learn. It is recommended for fresh learners to get their hands on HTML first while stepping into the programming world and growing their skills onwards.
Who uses HTML?
HTML is essential for everyone who works on website development and design as it creates all the web pages found on the internet. Front-end website development and Full-stack development are the major departments to use HTML as a base language. To maintain and fine-tune the web pages, HTML gives the most control over customization.
What makes HTML an easy-to-learn language?
HTML is one of the easiest programming languages. Its simple and symmetric code syntax makes it easy to learn. There are numerous free courses easily available on the internet that teach HTML in just a few hours. HTML tags adhere to consistent rules, making it simple to learn new commands and functions. HTML is a structuring language, it does not add any functionality but enables the developers to create a comprehensive blueprint of the website.
JavaScript
JavaScript, as the name suggests, is used for scripting. It used not used alone but with the combination of HTML and CSS to add functionality to the webpages and make UI and UX more appealing. This is done by making the pages interactive. Clients can see a certain change on each element while he hovers, clicks, scrolls, or types something. The interactive features may be a change in color, font, shadow effect, or carrying out some logical functionality with pre-defined inputs. The fact that JavaScript is commonly used to transform HTML elements or provide UI functionality does not imply that these are its only capabilities.
JavaScript can perform more powerful operations including data analysis, search algorithm implementation, or solving complex mathematical equations. JavaScript is not only a client-side scripting language. The project environments like Node.js unlock server-side development capabilities for developers with JavaScript. JavaScript can be used outside of a web browser and on the back end. This enables web applications to run from the screen to the server using a single programming language.
Who uses JavaScript?
To enable interactive features on web pages, web developers and full-stack developers should learn JavaScript to implement input-based logical operations. As discussed earlier, JavaScript is equally valuable for clients as well as for server-side functionality, both front-end, and back-end developers can make the most of it.
What makes JavaScript an easy-to-learn language?
JavaScript is yet another language that is extremely simple for fresh programming learners yet very useful. It is a high-level, interpreted language that can be readily integrated with other programming languages such as HTML. It is easy to write complex codes in JavaScript and simultaneously run those codes while proceeding as part of the process. It is designed for non-programmers and is user-friendly for people who want to learn. It’s an excellent beginner’s programming language.
Python
Python is considered one of the popular object-oriented programming languages due to its less complicated and relieving code syntax. The basic purpose of introducing python was to make it highly readable with the use of indentation and less complicated by removing unnecessary parathesis. It contains many commands based on English language words. Python supports more than one programming paradigm including Object Oriented Programming (OOP) which focuses on objects/datasets and Functional Programming which focuses on using functions.
Who uses Python?
The majority of AI specialists, Web developers, as well as data scientists, use Python due to its less complex syntax and flexible functionality. Data scientists are more concerned with their research and hence require a programming language that demands less of their time and effort but still works fine for their systems.
What makes Python an easy-to-learn language?
The usage of English language words makes it extremely easy to learn given the fact that it has numerous libraries for versatile applications and supports multi-paradigm. In Python, the simplest code is considered the most efficient one.
Java
Java has established itself as one of the most popular, powerful, diverse, and easy-to-learn programming languages. There are numerous online resources available to help a beginner-level programmer learn Java, like Java Bootcamps. Java is many developers’ initial introduction to Object-Oriented design ideas. Similar to
Python, it is a popular general-purpose programming language. Despite the fact that Java is an old language, it remains relevant and popular to date due to its regular updating. Java programs are robust and one program created on one platform is guaranteed to run smoothly on some other platform with almost similar efficiency. Java is adaptable enough to be utilized on any electronic device, not just computers, and mobile phones.
Who uses Java?
As discussed previously, Java is a general-purpose language hence more programmers can use it for larger applications. On the server side, it supports robust backend services, like Android as well as big data processing.
What makes Java an easy-to-learn language?
The easiest languages to learn are those that have a larger community of developers to support each other and grow, and Java is one of those languages. It has an easy syntax that is close to the English language.
Ruby
Ruby is a programming language that is centered on convenience of use and productivity. Ruby is simple to use, and its syntax is similar to Python’s. In contrast to several other languages, Ruby may be used for a variety of programming paradigms, including object-oriented, functional, and procedural programming. In contrast to Python, which concentrates on offering a no-brainer straightforward answer to every problem, Ruby enables various techniques that yield identical results. The Ruby on Rails framework simplifies the use of Ruby to construct and deliver web applications to users. One of the reasons Ruby makes the list of the easiest programming languages is because of its strong and welcoming community.
Who uses Ruby?
Ruby and Python, both attract the attention of people of similar skillset like web developers, and AI professionals. In addition to that Ruby is used in data processing operations, automation tools, and web scraping.
What makes Ruby an easy-to-learn language?
One of the language’s key attractions is its straightforward syntax, which many Ruby programmers feel to be the closest to simple English coding. Ruby programming language adheres to the “less is more” philosophy. Despite its simple syntax, Ruby is powerful enough to be employed in a wide range of paradigms and operations. Ruby has a large and supportive developer community all over the world.
Hardest Programming Languages to Learn
C++
C++ is considered to be one of the most powerful, fastest, and toughest programming languages.
It can be used for a variety of purposes and carries out the same efficient and robust programs. With C++, programmers can easily work on different programming styles. It gives beginners a deep level of understanding of how computer systems respond to programming language instructions. C++ provides a lot of flexibility and robustness that makes it popular among developers. C++ is adopted by programmers when the requirement is to create reliable, efficient, and high-performing systems.
Who uses C++?
A major use of C++ at the present time is game development. Statistics show that C++ is still a very popular programming language among game developers. Additionally, due to its versatility, it is readily used by developers especially the ones with a substantial understanding of computer programming
What makes C++ a hard-to-learn language?
For beginners, learning C++ is challenging because of its advanced-level syntax and multiple paradigm support. Simply put, it may or may not perform intuitively. In some instances, it can yield the result required but in some cases, the developer may face a number of errors/bugs, and to rectify those bugs, a sufficient amount of experience and understanding is required. Hence, it takes a long time to learn C++ and even longer to master it.
Haskell
The language is named after a mathematician and is usually described to be one of the hardest programming languages to learn. It is a completely functional language built on lambda calculus. Haskell supports shorter code lines with ultimate code reusability that makes the code understanding better. Although it is easier to detect errors, however, rectifying the bugs is a tedious task in Haskell.
Who uses Haskell?
Haskell is the primary technology that allows the development of high-quality software. The most significant factors for judging software quality are correctness, performance, and maintainability and
Haskell makes it so much easier to write code that excels in all of these areas.
What makes Haskell a hard-to-learn language?
Everything that contributes to the robustness and performance of Haskell is the same reason that makes it a hard-to-learn language. The completely functional paradigm, abstractness, purity, usage of technical language, etc make Haskell one of the toughest programming languages for developers.
LISP
LISP, short for LISt Programming, was developed in the year 1959. Despite being one of the oldest programming languages, LISP has not lost its charm and is surprisingly still used by a fair number of programmers working on high-level AI applications. Studies reveal that when a similar code is written in C, C++, Java, and LISP, the LISP programs are relatively smaller and run within the least amount of time. LISP was initially designed with the purpose of seamlessly manipulating data strings and is used for the most logical AI applications in the present.
Who uses LISP?
LISP is used mostly by Artificial Intelligence professionals for high-level applications due to its performance and speed.
What makes LISP a hard-to-learn language?
Investing time in LISP only makes sense if the person is intending to use it for a specific domain, i.e., AI. What makes it harder to learn is its fragmented syntax and excessive use of parentheses which, for some people, can be hard to adjust to.
Prolog
AI applications, Computational Linguistics, or NLPs are where one can see the most use of Prolog. It is the first-ever programming language in which any automated customer care bot was developed, named ELIZA.
Who uses Prolog?
Prolog is still used by AI and NLP professionals in academics and in the industry. However, in order to be able to use Prolog in a correct manner, the programmer must be an expert in the language as well as in data science and well informed about the expected outcome of the program i.e., Predicate.
What makes Prolog a hard-to-learn language?
Prolog code cannot be easily used with copy-paste method, it is highly probable that the developer might face some compiling errors if he/she is not well-versed with the language beforehand. This grows the need for a tutor or an expert around at all times to learn the language and guide whenever an error occurs. It requires expert developers to write a code because the developers need to know the logical output before running the code.
Malbolge
Malbolge is by far the hardest programming language to learn which can be concluded from the fact that it took no less than two years to finish writing the first Malbolge code. The code readability is ridiculously low and the code is
Who uses Malbolge?
In the software industry, Malbolge is not preferred at all as it is nearly useless. It can only be used and learned as a challenge but no real-world use.
What makes Malbolge a hard-to-learn language?
Things that make the code useless are the use of obscure notation throughout the code syntax and the self-modifying nature which does not give the required results.
Conclusion
Programming language learning can be an intimidating process, therefore, it is recommended to start with the easiest and then grow into the domain that supports one’s career path. It is always better, to begin with, those programming languages which have a vast community of developers and strong support programs to enable a seamless learning experience.
Most software developers prefer learning a set of programming languages rather than a single one. This enables the developers to handle projects single-handedly and adds to their market value at the same time.
This article was originally published on techreviewer.co
