Any language is good to start with. When you learn a language pick one that makes sense to you. The main thing you are learning is not the language it's how to change how you think about problems. From there the differences between languages are technical and any language can be conquered in time except JavaScript because fuck JavaScript.

Logic is common to all programming languages. Everything else is syntax and knowing what functions or utilities you can capitalize on. No matter how complex things seem under the hood it's only one instruction at a time that is being processed. Speed and memory make it seem like multitasking. It's as simple as "If this, then that". Once you get the foundations of logic down, you're good to go. Everything else is experience and time takes care of that. Good luck and have fun. As far as confidence goes my mantra throughout life, especially when faced with complex situations is a derisive "How hard can this be?", while plodding forward.

Go is easy??

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.

Go seems like a good option to begin with; you can do a lot with it, and it's not that complicated but does expose you to concepts like pointers.

There are plenty of very "serious" systems written in Go (e.g. Kubernetes), it's not a toy language.

Nothing is easy when learning programming from scratch and by yourself ; just choose whatever you feel is cool (at beginner level, it does not make a big difference).

Avoid the compilation process by using interpreted language

Go is as serious as it gets. Go is also pretty simple and gives you great foundation and understanding.

Either go with Go (!) or with a lisp like racket, following the book https://htdp.org/ These are different approaches but will give you a huge headstart and better understanding of how to actually design a system instead of getting lost in code. I personally recommend the second approach to people who ask me.

Python is one of the most-widely used languages in the world.

If you are learning because you are just interested in this, then I might say go with any language like C/Go where you have real datatypes you can work with.

C might be a good place to start for a little while where you can learn the fundamentals like data types, logic, etc.

Once armed with the fundamentals, you can really just go wherever you desire, look at and maybe try a few to see what you like.

I don't like complex languages. Why do i have to remember x100 for thing that a proper design from start would have accomplished? Some of the larger ones even have different keywords for basically the same task duplicated.

By that note, D seems decent.

Modern OOP is an antipattern.

Zig or go are not that unserious of languages. Zig is arguably quite hard due to being pretty low-level. Maybe think about what domain you want to do programming in.. Python might be a decent starting point tho (easy language, no memory management)

so one thing about programming languages is at the end of the day, they can all generally accomplish the same things. they are all turing complete and generally capable of expressing programs that any of the others can.

as others in this thread have said, many patterns you learn within one programming language will transfer to others. some personal context, i attended and then taught at a coding bootcamp for a year about a decade ago, saw over 300 students and have been doing software engineering since. it was full time and the students would learn ruby basics over 4 weeks and then would be able to do the same things in javascript in a few days. that said, those languages are pretty similar but i hope it makes the point.

so my main suggestion is to start with a general purpose, syntactically simple language. the less syntax and overhead in the language, the more you will be able to focus on the fundamentals of programming and less on jumping through the hoops of the language you're working with. stay away from typed languages for at least the first few months unless you really really only want to do low level stuff.

some languages i think you should consider: ruby, python, javascript. they are relatively similar for a beginner. python has more usage in data heavy scenarios due to it's extensive data libraries. ruby's whole mantra is being a joy to write. javascript is simple but that also means you don't get much help from it out of the box. consider it as a first/second language mainly if you are interested in websites.

When I first started programming I was constantly thinking the same thing: should I learn this or that language? Will it be useful or a waste of time?, etc but it really doesn't matter. Nearly every modern language has the same core principles of variables, constants, functions and data structures. Once you've gotten the hang of those ideas then switching languages is just a matter of learning the new syntax which isn't hard when you already know how it's going to work

The trouble with “easy” languages is that they allow you to write incorrect code without much pushback.

The trouble with “serious” languages is that they push back even when you’re writing correct code.

There’s plenty to learn from either route. Just pick something that piques your interest and dive in.

Learing the bases of programming is language agnostic really. You can start even with pseudo code, then learn the language you will like to work with. Just choose any language that seems fun and enjoy the process.

Good luck!

I question the suggestion that Zig and Go are not "serious" programming languages. They certainly weren't designed to be "easy" beginner languages.

I don't think it matters a whole lot which language you start with. Learning to program is largely separate from learning a particular language, and if you do programming for a while, you'll probably learn several. I do think someone who wants to understand programming deeply should learn each of:

• A lisp, probably Racket, but others will do. This teaches a lot about how computation works, and is at least a local maximum for abstractive power.
• C, an assembly language, or something similar where the developer must manage memory manually and has the ability to mismanage it. This teaches how computers work.
• A statically typed functional language, probably Haskell. This makes programming more math-like and probably represents a local maximum for what can be proven about a program's behavior without solving the halting problem.
• SQL. I wish there was something prettier with a modicum of popularity that does what it does (PRQL is my favorite recent attempt), but there isn't. This teaches thinking about data in sets and relations, and you will almost certainly use it in practice.

It's not so much easy-difficult, it's high-level-low-level. Low-level languages can be easy in the sense that you don't have many entities to juggle (stacks, registers, etc.) and high-level languages can be miserable, like C++.
Of you're interested in starting with the fundamentals, go with C. If you just want to get something made, go with ~~Claude~~ Python.

Any use? Always! Exercising your brain will never be a bad investment!

But which language really depends on why you want to learn and what you want to do with it, though! Coming at it from a 'languages with an abundance of learning resources' perspective (sorry not exhaustive):

• You want to program devices; LEDs, microcontrollers, sensors, etc? Python!

• You want to make a pretty website? JavaScript with the React framework!

• You want to prototype out a monolithicly big web app quickly? Ruby on Rails!

• You want to make infographics? R!

• You want to start a career in Software Engineering? JavaScript with Node, Go, Rust, or C# with dot-net framework, and many more*. Also, abort, don't do this, AI is decimating the job seeking field right now.

So, it really depends on what YOU want to do with it. As others have hinted, a programming language is often just 'syntactic sugar' to accomplish the same programming concepts. Most all the modern languages can do the same things, just using different function-names/words/syntax. So as a learner, just frankly ignore all the "{X} is best at {Y}" arguments, including those above, and instead: concentrate on the concepts (like loops, recursion, associations, type control, etc, etc, etc.) over the specific language, first. Good luck OP!

I try to only write in easy language if I can. My favorite one is Lean4.

There's lots of this vs that discussion in this thread. IMO the most useful such distinction I've encountered is languages that encourage you to think about data vs languages that encourage you to think about transformations (of data). Excel and modern OOP are the former while haskell and digital signal processing are the latter.

Go is not serious? TIL.

There is benefit in learning any language.

Personally I'm in a similar situation with Nim-lang. I like the style and performance, it hits a spot for me that other languages do not*. I wouldn't call it "easy" though, as you still have to think about typing and other structure stuff (but not to the degree that you'd have to deal with for other languages). Being less popular of a language is probably the main issue here (there are many options for bindings, but you may find yourself waiting on something specific with smaller communities).

TBH I haven't used it as much as I should, having other issues. The last thing I did though (sweeper clone), I finished it and it made me feel better about my possibility of understanding complexities.

* I guess newer changes to Python and LUA might make a difference, though I still get the feeling those are not just-enable-to-be-reasonably-fast options.

Python is designed as an easy language. Yet it is a fundemental important language in the IT, backbone of many Linux operating systems and servers. One could even say... a serious language.

I personally wouldn't care if a language is called "easy" or not. You should also look at what it is capable at its peak and where it is used most often, if it works for you. Pick the language that you think fits you the best. I wouldn't call Zig as an easy language to get into, its still low level language.

It us totally OK to start easy.

Scheme (for example Guile) or Racket are great beginner languages, because they have a very minimal core, and at the same time a lot of power. Created by teachers, they also have great guides.

Clojure is also a fantastic Lisp language, extremely elegant and very powerful. Its user community has many experienced programmers, and it is very friendly.

Python is probably the most popular choice for beginners. It has a nice tutorial and countless libraries, which allows to put programs together from components. But its build and packaging system is notoriously messy (though it seems improving) and can get in the way when doing more complex stuff later. Its user forums also suffer currently most from AI slop.

I wouldn't recommend Go language for beginners. It is relatively simple, true, but although it is well-geared to its main target - web applications - it has serious pitfalls with concurrency, which can lead to arcane bugs and a lot of hair-pulling.

You could also start with Rust. The language is larger than others, that's true. But you do not need to learn it all at once. Also, it has best-in-class online tutorials, books and documentation. Its compiler error messages are extremely helpful. And its build and packaging system are so much easier to use than almost anything else. This matters for beginners, too, since this allows you to put together interesting programs quickly.

Firstly, Zig and Go are serious. Anybody who told you different isn't a good person to learn from.

My journey was:

• Basic (various dialects)
• 6502 assembly
• Forth
• 68000 assembly
• Pascal
• C
• Perl
• C++
• Python
• x86 assembly
• Java
• Haskell
• RISC-V assembly
• Zig

With some others thrown in I'm sure and some hardware description languages. The stuff I learnt in Basic 45 years ago is still relevant today. I learnt something from all of them. It doesn't really matter where you start, but you have to take a first step and you need to write code to learn, even if it's just copying it. It has to go through your fingers.