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Thread: Comparison of three languages, which one is the best for beginners?

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    Comparison of three languages, which one is the best for beginners?

    Hi! We are four students studying at School of Engineering, Jönköping University in Sweden. We are currently working on a project regarding three programming languages, Java, C# and Python. In this project we’re doing a survey on which one is the most suited for new programmers. We would appreciate if you took five minutes of your time to complete our survey.
    Thanks in advance!

    http://survey.rudbeck.nu/?l=en

    Discussion: What language of the three do you think is the most suited for beginners and why?

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    Re: Comparison of three languages, which one is the best for beginners?

    Python because it has the RaspberryPi as an educational tool to help teach programming.
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    Re: Comparison of three languages, which one is the best for beginners?

    Quote Originally Posted by eliasjth View Post
    Hi! We are four students studying at School of Engineering, Jönköping University in Sweden. We are currently working on a project regarding three programming languages, Java, C# and Python. In this project we’re doing a survey on which one is the most suited for new programmers. We would appreciate if you took five minutes of your time to complete our survey.
    Thanks in advance!

    http://survey.rudbeck.nu/?l=en

    Discussion: What language of the three do you think is the most suited for beginners and why?
    Python because that's the one with which you can see a bit farther than procedural and half-assed object-oriented programming.
    Warning: unless noted otherwise, code in my posts should be understood as "coding suggestions", and its use may require more neurones than the two necessary for Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V.

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    Re: Comparison of three languages, which one is the best for beginners?

    C#, Python, and Java have rather different, yet somewhat similar, uses. C# is more for web servers, while Java and Python are more for desktop applications. Java, although extremely portable, sucks up memory and power like nobodies business. Python on the other hand, although slightly less portable than Java, has an amazingly clear syntax, and is used a lot in scientific computation.

    Honestly, Python would be someone's best bet at a beginner's programming language, simply because of the syntax. However, if you want more power while maintaining a clear syntax, I suggest checking out Julia. Although Julia is a very new language, it is very promising since it combines the "best-of-breed" C and Fortran libraries for linear algebra, random number generation, signal processing, and string processing. I also encourage anyone who currently programs in Python, C, Fortran, Octave, R, or MATLAB to give Julia a look.

    Here's a free Intro to Programming class, provided by MIT OpenCourseWare. It teaches the Python programming language, for beginner programmers with little to no prior experience with programming. The Khan Academy also provides educational videos for beginning Python/general-purpose programming, which can be found here.
    Last edited by King Dude; February 11th, 2014 at 09:16 PM.

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    Re: Comparison of three languages, which one is the best for beginners?

    Quote Originally Posted by King Dude View Post
    C# is more for web servers, while Java and Python are more for desktop applications.
    Desktop applications in Java? There are some, but Java is mostly used in "enterprise" servers.

    Quote Originally Posted by King Dude View Post
    Java, although extremely portable, sucks up memory and power like nobodies business
    Not Java. Bloated and overdesigned Java apps.
    Warning: unless noted otherwise, code in my posts should be understood as "coding suggestions", and its use may require more neurones than the two necessary for Ctrl-C/Ctrl-V.

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    Re: Comparison of three languages, which one is the best for beginners?

    Java is popular on Windows desktops and Linux desktops, and so is Python. But Java is the de facto language for developing Android apps. And because of the growing popularity of Android devices it is probable that the Android O.S. will soon be common on desktop PCs.

    If your goal is to work as a developer, then of these three languages Java gets the nod as far as I'm concerned.

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    Re: Comparison of three languages, which one is the best for beginners?

    beginners don't whip up android apps, so that's meaningless. Python gets my vote, you are not bogged down by unnecessary boilerplate and get to do the fun stuff right off the bat. As the xkcd guy said in his talk, python is awesome because you write pseudocode and it works
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    Re: Comparison of three languages, which one is the best for beginners?

    Quote Originally Posted by Vaphell View Post
    beginners don't whip up android apps, so that's meaningless.
    Even developers that whip up Android apps were beginners at one time.

    The original poster is an engineering student. So one could assume he intends to work as a developer.

    Yes, Python might be easier for you. But that is not what the OP asked. He asked, "What language of the three do you think is the most suited for beginners and why?"

    As opposed to looking only at the effort required, as you seem to do, I am also looking at the possible results.
    So my answer was not meaningless, it just came from using a slightly different set of criteria.

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    Re: Comparison of three languages, which one is the best for beginners?

    Quote Originally Posted by tgalati4 View Post
    Why is Pascal not on the list?
    Agreed that Pascal is at least worthy of mention.

    For a bit of fun, I'll mention COBOL and BASIC.
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    Re: Comparison of three languages, which one is the best for beginners?

    Quote Originally Posted by xb12x2 View Post
    Even developers that whip up Android apps were beginners at one time.

    The original poster is an engineering student. So one could assume he intends to work as a developer.

    Yes, Python might be easier for you. But that is not what the OP asked. He asked, "What language of the three do you think is the most suited for beginners and why?"

    As opposed to looking only at the effort required, as you seem to do, I am also looking at the possible results.
    So my answer was not meaningless, it just came from using a slightly different set of criteria.
    Yes, 'a beginner' not 'beginner specifically planning to churn phone apps'. And what if he wanted to be a corporate drone whipping up windows-centric enterprise software? C# then?
    I have that funny feeling you consider python a joke language that is generally a waste of time for any 'serious' programmer.

    Expecting someone to learn only 1 language to rule them all and call it a day is not reasonable. Any programmer worth his salt knows a handful of languages at a respectable level.
    Beginners are supposed to learn stuff like functions, loops, conditionals first, things that exist in pretty much all languages and make for a solid base. Rigid structure of java shoving OOP down the throat, requiring ungodly amounts of boilerplate and a gig of memory worth of ide is not fun, on the other hand python that is expressive and very flexible is. Seriously, if you wanted your mother to learn programming 101, what would you choose, java or python?

    And effort vs results means a lot especially to beginners, because initial experience is what can make or break a novice programmer. Granted it was not java, but c++, but it's also a complicated language with a ton of gotchas and it did break me in the past, making me avoid programming for few years. Bash (yes, really) and python made coding fun again.
    Last edited by Vaphell; February 12th, 2014 at 01:18 PM.
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