I often get questions such as: “Which programming language to learn first?”, “Java is the very programming language that you should start writing?”, “How good is Java as the first programming language?”, “Which of the programming languages is the most suitable for beginners? ”or“ Start with Java or Python? ”.
The answer to all these questions is that Java is one of the most popular programming languages, and there are many reasons to start learning it, starting with career opportunities and ending with getting support from the community.
In my opinion, the most compelling reason to start programming in Java or to select it as the first language is that Java is easier to learn.
Some may argue that Python is even simpler than Java and does not even require compilation, but personally I find Java a language that is much easier to understand and read (much easier to read and understand).
The last generation of programmers began to learn how to write code from BASIC and only then switched to C and C ++ with Java as their second or third programming language.
One of the reasons for this may be that C and C ++ were more in demand in those days, unlike Java. But the real reason is that the curriculum was built in such a way that we were taught C and C ++, since then there was no Python, at least in our college.
Indeed, often we do not have to choose, and we study programming at school or college as part of the curriculum. In my time, C was the first programming language in our engineering college, then we studied C ++, VB, VC ++, and finally Java.
Now I’m saying that Java is easier and easier to learn, but I remember how I noted that it is more complicated in syntax compared to C ++, because I had to write System.out.println () instead of a short form of cout in order to output message on the screen, however, this is just a short-term inconvenience.
When I started writing and supporting large programs, I found Java code more readable, and you can understand what the code does. In Java, debugging and troubleshooting were much more convenient than in C ++ or C.
By the way, I study professional programming or, as you say, real coding at my first job. It was then that I began to seriously study Java.
Is a programming language worth starting with?
A few reasons why I consider Java a suitable programming language to learn how to write code on it:
- Java is simpler, the syntax is much more readable than the syntax of C, C ++, or another language.
- The Java language is good for learning object-oriented programming, but not for the procedural one, where it is inferior to C. OOP or Object-Oriented Programming is a useful skill because it handles the complexity of a real application quite well. It's easier to think in terms of class and objects.
- Java has a rich API, and you can do a lot in Java, for example, work with graphics, sound and, most likely, write small games, such as Tic Tac Toe, Tetris, etc. Not that you can not do it in other languages, but then you will often have to download and install various programs and libraries, which is not an easy job for a beginner programmer. When you install Java, most of the necessary work is already installed during the installation of the language.
- Java has strong community support , no matter what kind of questions, doubts or concerns you have, Google will be able to find the answers. If not Google, then there is Stack Overflow, Java forums, and many other communities to help you. This is really the main reason why I advise beginners to learn how to write code in Java, because when you start learning to program, you will encounter many different problems before you begin to understand the basics of programming and Java itself. Since there are several million Java developers and community support, it is likely that you will quickly find the answers without any frustrations or frustrations.
- Java is a strongly typed language that corrects many mistakes made by novice programmers. Also, to a lesser extent, suitable for static typing. This is another reason why I suggest beginners learn Java first, not Python, because Python is a dynamic typing language, and you don’t need to define types, which is usually confusing.
- Java is installed with the built-in Garbage collection (automatic memory management that unused objects occupy), which is a big plus for absolute beginners. Memory management is a big deal at the beginning of programming training.
These are the few reasons why I think that beginners should first learn Java and only then any other programming language. I can be biased because I am a Java programmer, but I also know Python and I also did professional programming in C and C ++.
Based on this experience, I can say that Java is undoubtedly one of the best programming languages for beginners, and you can definitely choose Java as the first programming language for learning programming.
Is Java enough for a successful programming career?
The question is not the difference in programming languages, no. As a programmer, you need to know a lot of things, such as data structure, algorithms, memory management, object-oriented programming, scripts and so on. And another language teaches you another.
As soon as it’s easy for you to work with Java, you can switch to other programming languages, such as Scala, JavaScript, or choose scripting languages, for example, Python, which do not need to be compiled.
The biggest problem in this area is that you need to continue to learn and develop in order to build a successful career as a programmer. If you like programming and master new technologies and programming languages, then this area is for you.
In order to be a successful programmer, it is also important to develop the skill of debugging programs, which is based on the ability to think logically.
If you are friends with logic and can make a conclusion based on limited available information, then it will not be difficult for you to fix problems and find errors in the code.
Good experience with integrated development environments (IDEs) like Eclipse, NetBeans, or IntelliJ IDEA and really great Java tools will also help you write code and debug it.
That's all. In my opinion, Java is certainly an excellent language to start with , because it is simpler than most other languages and focuses directly on writing the code itself, and not on managing systems such as memory management.
In short, you can definitely choose Java as your first programming language, and when you learn it, try to learn a couple more languages, such as JavaScript or Python.
