Ask HN: Are Python and JavaScript the simplest programming languages?
And good for learning to program and how to how to make things and transition to other languages.
Their syntax seems simpler than that of Java.
Their syntax seems simpler than that of Java.
And here is my reasoning. I was trying to learn Python btw and can agree, it appears to be an easy language to learn, but being as I gave up on it I can't comment further comparatively. What I can say is why I changed and you can decide if my reasoning suits you too.
Firstly JavaScript is super easy to visualize. When you code something in Python it remains something abstract. Like how do I take data from a form? Well you need to build a front end (HTML et al) then you need to install stuff, run an Apache server, etc. This is all just to get some visual clue to coffee you wrote.
Secondly, there is largely one version of JS and it's the JS that every browser uses, sure there is ES6, but 90% of the videos out there are on the previous versions that make up basically everything that's not bleeding edge.
Python has two distinct versions and they are different and the books that are designed for newbs don't (usually) communicate which version they rely on and teach. Totally crap if you are new and forced to make a largely random, but substantial decision right away. Frustrating too when you buy (and realize afterwards) that your two beginner books that your are pouring through are teaching two different versions that aren't compatible in many many ways. That's hard on a new user for sure.
Lastly there are a ton and I mean like maybe hundreds of thousands of videos and learning resources on JS. It's crazy! Plus there are some seriously big organizations that are sinking some serious bills into adopting and extending it in the server and browser. For instance Facebook and Google; mortal enemies, even collaborated on a platform that materially solves problems for the developer community.
It's crazy what's going on in the language and from a search point of view it literally crushes everyone else.
Honestly I'll tell you this; I don't care a JS about JS, but I am keen to learn and I'm super keen to make progress and to me JS seems to embody the now and the nearish future for many careers and opportunities in web/software development.
Also FYI you can build stuff fast with Ruby on Rails (RoR), but as was pointed out, there is lots to know afterwards. That being said I'm learning the pieces of software language structures eg. For loops, etc through JS then I'm onto RoR so I can launch some basic ideas very quickly and see what happens ;)
Good luck in your choice and hey don't sweat which one you pick, but don't be an outlier either, not for language number 1.
* a lot of companies in my area were using at
* I knew a lot of people using Ruby, so I had a support structure
* out of all the languages I had tried (JavaScript, Python, PHP, C++), I enjoyed it the most
* Ruby on Rails made it easy to get a web application up and running
* I like testing, and Ruby-ists are big on that
Ruby is still the easiest language that I've learned and used consistently.
More and more people are exposed to JavaScript. But I think Python is easier to learn.