Well, let's confirm what you already know, which is that the first step in the journey of learning to code, and perhaps the most intuitive step in the journey of learning anything new, is to clearly identify the reasons that drive you to learn this thing.

The learning journey is usually relatively long and not without its difficulties, and only the decisive answers to some basic questions will help you determine and choose the right learning path.

The first question is:

Why do you even want to learn programming?

It may seem like a disapproving question, but it is still an important question that you should ask yourself before you start any further step.

For example, would you like to change the focus of your career and go to work as a full-time programmer?

Or do you have a new project or idea that needs code and you want to implement it yourself?

Or do you want to share with your friends the launch of a new app or website design?

Then what do you hope to accomplish with this new knowledge about programming?

You should answer this question carefully, because the programming language you choose to learn will depend primarily on that answer.

The second question would be:

What kind of programming would you like to learn or work with?

You have to think about the major and the field you intend to enter.

Do you want to get a job as a back-end developer or a software engineer?

Or maybe you want to work in a field like artificial intelligence (AI) or some other new technology?

Answering this question will definitely help you to choose the right learning path and choose the best programming language for each field.

But before we get into programming languages, let us introduce you to the most important areas and specializations related to programming at the moment.

Programming fields

(Pixabe)

There are several specializations in the field of programming (1), but let's talk about the most famous of them. For example, there is a software developer specialization that designs, builds and tests various software, whether applications run on personal computers such as Photoshop, or Even smartphone apps like Instagram, Facebook or Twitter.

Whereas, a software engineer is someone who applies software engineering principles to the design, development, testing, maintenance, and evaluation of various computer programs.

Then we find the front-end web developer who programmes everything that appears in front of you on the websites you browse daily, writing code that tells the browser to display specific information and how to display it.

While there is the back-end web developer who takes care of everything that happens behind the scenes, when you browse any site there are accounts and interactions that you do not know, which is the so-called back-end of the site, here the developer writes the code that determines the methods of communication between the applications of that interface and the Site databases and servers.

A person who combines the two disciplines is known as a Full-Stack Developer, who can build both front-end and back-end websites.

Thus, it has the ability to model all the elements that the average user sees, as well as the computational part of the data and servers.

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And we should not forget to refer to the game developer who designs and writes game codes for different platforms, such as the PC and home platforms (PlayStation and Xbox), and his specialization may include designing in-game characters, the mechanics of the game itself, and the user interface "User Interface".

There are also software specializations related to systems and databases, the most famous of which is the Systems Analyst, who examines software systems by testing the engineering architecture of information technology, and recommends their development by some different solutions and means.

As well as the database developer, who develops and maintains database systems, and works with the software engineer to determine the data requirements for each project, and from them begins creating the databases accordingly.

Each of the previous specializations requires a set of skills and learning different programming languages, so your choice of specialization and your knowledge of what field you want is very important to start the learning journey, which leads us to the next point: What are the best programming languages ​​currently?

Programming languages ​​classification

There are hundreds of programming languages ​​out there, each language is unique, and distinct in its purpose and what it can offer, but some languages ​​are easier to learn than others, so it is best to start with them because it will be the quickest way to learn the basics of programming.

At the outset we will need to clarify that programming languages ​​fall into two main categories: The first is the Low-Level Language, or the native language of the computer, which is very close to writing actual machine instructions, i.e. the binary 0 and 1 system, and deals with With internal computer components or hardware, the code cannot be read by humans, and it is often encrypted.

While the second category is the high-level language, which allows writing programs regardless of the type of computer or hardware, and it bears the name "high-level" because it is closer to human languages ​​and can be easily understood.

This class of languages ​​needs a compiler to translate them into a low-level language for machine to understand.

Some of these languages ​​focus on structural structure, while some are interactive and perform more complex functions.

Usually, higher-level languages ​​are easier for beginners to learn, which is what we'll recommend here to get you started on your programming journey.

The "Stack Overflow" platform, which is the most popular social networking site for programmers around the world, conducts a survey annually for those working in the programming field in order to determine the most technologies and languages ​​they use, and some other important information in the field such as productivity and salaries.

Our selection of programming languages ​​here was based on the ranking of the most used languages ​​for those learning to program in the platform’s latest survey this year 2022. HTML/CSS came in first place, choosing more than 62% of those who started learning programming (3).

HTML/CSS languages

We can consider Hypertext Markup Language, or "HTML", to be the basis of the Internet (4).

Technically, HTML is not a programming language, but a markup language, meaning it is used to describe web pages in plain text, meaning that it is responsible for coordinating the appearance of information on websites.

(Pixabe)

When you open a "Maidan" page, for example, what you usually see is an "HTML" document provided by your browser. The sections, sub-headings, links, and paragraphs on the article page here are all part of the "HTML" domain.

You will find it everywhere around you on the Internet, so if you are going to start your journey to the world of programming, you will first need to understand the language "HTML", especially as it is easy to learn for beginners.

It's important to note that HTML controls what content you see on the page here, but it doesn't affect how that content appears.

Here comes the role of its obscure sister CSS, and it deals (5) simply with the design of HTML pages, article page colors and size, fonts and even the look of the entire page.

CSS is also not a programming language, but it is a set of rules that apply to HTML pages.

Mostly, the two languages ​​are used together when designing web pages, so you will need to learn both.

It's easy to get started with because you don't need to think about the arithmetic logic of other programming languages, and you'll see the results of the code you write quickly in front of you.

Here is a list of simple HTML/CSS courses:

  • Learn HTML: What You Need to Know Before Starting to Code

  • HTML Full Course – Build a Website Tutorial

  • HTML Tutorial

  • CSS

  • CSS Tutorial

  • Intro to HTML/CSS: Making webpages

  • JavaScript

    When you mention JavaScript, you'll find that it allows you to do a lot more.

    If we can compare a website to a human, HTML pages will be the skeleton that holds the human body and gives it its general appearance, while the "CSS" will be the outer body and everything that gives the human appearance and appearance, while the "JavaScript" will be the mind.

    (Pixabe)

    You can use JavaScript just about anything when designing and building a website. It turns static web pages into active pages, controls the movement of page elements, and reacts to various user movements within them.

    The simplest example of this is when you see a red "urgent" bar while browsing the Al Jazeera website.

    JavaScript is used in the development of 98% of the front-end websites, i.e. the interface that you see when you browse any site (6), and in the survey of the "Stack Overflow" platform itself, JavaScript comes in second place in terms of use for all developers by more than 65%, and this For the tenth year in a row (7).

    So if you are interested in developing websites, learning JavaScript is the next step after learning the two previous languages, HTML/CSS.

    Here is a list of simple courses for learning JavaScript:

  • JavaScript Programming for Absolute Beginners in 2022

  • Learn JavaScript - Full Course for Beginners

  • Learn JavaScript by Building 7 Games – Full Course

  • The Complete JavaScript Course 2022: From Zero to Expert!

  • JavaScript Tutorials and Courses

  • JavaScript Tutorial

  • Learn JavaScript

  • Python

    Python is a multi-purpose programming language, launched by Dutch programmer Guido van Rossum in 1991, and it is one of the easiest languages ​​to learn for beginners, because of its structure and easy to use interface. It helps beginners to learn basic concepts in the language (8).

    Python is widely used to develop web applications, popular sites like YouTube, Instagram and Pinterest are built using the Python language.

    (Pixabe)

    And if you are planning to go into the field of data science or artificial intelligence, you will definitely need to learn Python, which is popular in the fields of machine learning and deep learning applications.

    The language also has a lot of code libraries, which are collections of pre-written tasks that you can incorporate into your code instead of writing the tasks yourself from scratch.

    Here are simple courses for learning Python:

  • Python Tutorial

  • Python Tutorials and Courses

  • Learn Python: Python Programming for the Absolute Beginner

  • Learn Python - Full Course for Beginners [Tutorial]

  • Learn Python

  • Java

    Java is one of the most popular programming languages, which has been around since 1995 and is owned by Oracle (9).

    Like Python, it is easy to read and understand programming in Java, and complex tasks can be handled with a single command. It is an object-oriented programming language - OOP, and one of its advantages is that it allows reuse of previous code by calling it in Other programs without the need to reprogram them from scratch, thus making it easier to build programs quickly and in a short time, which reduces development costs.

    With its ease of use and learning, it is also characterized by providing security, and it can handle huge amounts of data, so it is used with Big Data applications.

    These features make Java an ideal language for the financial technology (Fintech) sector, and it is often used in industries such as banking, stock market and stock exchange.

    It is also famous for its use in smart phone applications, especially Android system applications.

    The versatility of the language is what distinguishes it, Java is known as a "write-once, run-anywhere" language, because it simply runs on any operating system, regardless of the first system the programmer used to write The original code, be it Windows, Linux or even Android.

    That's why they are used to program applications, not only for smartphones and computers, but also for processors, remote sensors, and a variety of other consumer products.

    Today, there are more than 3 billion devices running applications built in the Java programming language.

    Here is a list of simple courses for learning Java:

  • Learn Java

  • Java Tutorial

  • Learn Java Online

  • SQL

    (Shutterstock)

    SQL, or database language, is a standard language for accessing and manipulating databases, developed by IBM in the 1970s.

    It can be used to update, store and retrieve data from different databases, and is a standard for database management systems, as approved by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) since 1986 (10).

    SQL is a specialized language, i.e. different from the usual programming languages ​​that we recommend here, it may take some time to learn it if you don't already have some programming basics, but we put it here because it is popular in technology and with data workers, so you will find that it is important in places Work if you decide to work as a programmer in a company.

    Simplified courses for learning SQL:

  • Learn SQL: What You Should Know About SQL Before Getting Started

  • Learn SQL

  • SQL Tutorial

  • My language is C++/C

    The C programming language appeared in 1972, but is still very popular today, and is another popular choice for beginning learning.

    Beginners often need to write more code and lines of code to achieve the same goal compared to a language like Python, you will make a more but useful effort to understand the abstract concepts of programming more clearly.

    (Shutterstock)

    While C++ is an update of the C language, it is similar to the basics but with the addition of elements, an addition that makes it easier to use in complex applications.

    C++ is fast and stable, and provides a feature called the Standard Template Library (STL – Standard Template Library), which is a set of ready-to-use libraries for various data structures, calculations, and algorithms (11).

    The two languages ​​have a large presence in the programming world, as they are used in almost all platforms, such as operating systems and file systems.

    If you want to work as a systems programmer, they are your means to enter this field.

    Courses for learning C/C++:

  • Learn C

  • C Tutorial

  • Learn C++

  • C++ Tutorial

  • C# language

    C#, pronounced "C-Sharp", is a multi-purpose, object-oriented programming language developed by Microsoft and first released in 2002. It has origins from the C language family as well, but it is more similar to Java (12).

    It is mostly used for backend programming, computer hardware applications, enterprise software, and most famously in video game development using the famous Unity game engine.

    If you intend to enter the world of game development, you can start by learning the C# language, and if you are going to use the C++ language with it, you will need to learn it first, because this will make it easier for you to understand the C# language and help speed up the learning process.

    Courses for learning C# language:

  • Learn C#

  • C# Tutorial - Full Course for Beginners

  • C# Tutorials and Courses

  • C# Tutorial

  • ______________________________________________

    Sources:

    • (1) https://www.bestcolleges.com/bootcamps/tracks/coding-jobs/

    • (2) https://www.javatpoint.com/classification-of-programming-languages

    • (3) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2022/#most-popular-technologies-language-learn

    • (4) https://www.w3schools.com/html/html_intro.asp

    • (5) https://www.w3schools.com/css/css_intro.asp

    • (6) https://w3techs.com/technologies/details/cp-javascript/

    • (7) https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2022/#most-popular-technologies-language-learn

    • (8) https://www.w3schools.com/python/python_intro.asp

    • (9) https://www.simplelearn.com/tutorials/java-tutorial/what-is-java

    • (10) https://www.techopedia.com/definition/1245/structured-query-language-sql

    • (11) https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/difference-between-c-and-c/

    • (12) https://www.w3schools.com/cs/cs_intro.php