What programming language should you learn first

If you do not know any programming language (no, CSS and HTML are not programming languages) and want to jump into software development, you may be confused — there are a lot of options, a lot of hype and holy wars about Lang1 vs. Lang2 vs… LangN.

First, let’s define a target — you want to become a software developer, not to “learn Ruby/Python/JS in 7 hours / 21 days”.

1. Your first programming language should NOT be the one you’ll gonna use later “in production.”

2. It will be better if your first language will be designed for teaching programming, not for solving real-world engineering problems.

That said, Pascal, Logo, Prolog, and Scheme are great languages to start.

In my opinion, it is more important to get a clear vision on basic, fundamental programming concepts in naked, clear abstract way, before solving actual problems like implementing HTTP routing for your web application or validating input data in a form on the web page. Starting with “real” programming language may create an “anchoring” bias in your mind so that you will be locked in paradigms only available in this language unconsciously dismissing others or thinking about them as “exotic” or “weird.”

Originally published at tabakerov.github.io.