I have been thinking of learning some programming recently, but I don’t feel confident enough. Is there any point in beginning with something like Zig or Go, and switching to something more serious later?
Exactly don’t start with easy languages you should start with the best programming language HolyC, the divine language.
It’s…sort of not a question of easy vs hard. Why would anyone make a hard programming language?
It’s more about picking a language that is suitable for what you want to do with it.
C
Or Pascal - back in my day it was believed it’s close to natural language
I don’t think most languages you’ll encounter in the wild are too “easy”.
Universities here start you off with Python in the first semester because it’s easy for beginners to grasp. That doesn’t mean it’s not “serious” though, the whole AI/ML/Big Data ecosystem is ALL Python, largely because there are excellent data processing libraries for Python and stuff like PyTorch for offloading work to the GPU.
Just don’t try to use Powerpoint for programming, it’s possible but you’ll go mad.
I found it easier to start with something considered medium difficulty, because “easy” languages abstract away a lot of problems of programming. So when certain problems arise, its hard to understand what is happening behind the scenes.
If you want to build something, python is great. If you wanna learn programming, it might be confusing.
Where did you get the idea that Zig is an “easy” language?
Anything is better than nothing.
Go and Zig are serious languages. Go is especially established and has a big ecosystem and capabilities. You could stick with Go forever if you don’t want to expand afterwards.
Starting ‘simpler’ is better because it gives you successes. It keeps you going.
crazy to call zig, a low level systems language, an “easy” language
no. You must start with malboge
True evil
There are no easy or hard programming languages.
There are only good and shit programming languages.I get paid a whole lot to work solely in Deluge. which is the most painfully simple language ever. you want a join() built in? fuck you. sleep()? not allowed. you want a “for i in range()”? nope, they don’t do that here.
simple languages are often the most used in production unless you’re doing something highly specific that warrants a specific language.
Programming is a tool. Systems understanding is what has value. Pick a system you want to learn and actively build and fail consistently.
Repeated exposure to reality is the way to learn fast and gain confidence.
Zig or Go are serious programming languages. Zig is actually the language I would least recommend for complete beginners because in my opinion it is one the most serious languages currently. What lead you to your examples Zig and Go and how do you determine what a ‘serious’ programming language is?
When I say “serious” I mean something widely used and expected on the labor market, like C++ or Java. I don’t really know the world of programming very well, so I may misjudge some languages for being not serious easily. Particularly with Zig, I heard it being called a “vibecoder language”
Well in case of zig the current job market is non existent. And for Go there is definetly a job market. It however always depends on your location. Just like there are areas with 0 to no Go positions available, there are areas with (almost) no Java positions. Same applys to every other language.
“Vibe-coding language?” LOL. Social media threads about vibe coding are like a bunch of people who don’t speak English trying to teach each other English when most of them hate English. The subject is so polluted by rage and misinformation, I think it’s hard to competently process any discussion of it without already knowing a lot about it.
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.
I agree 100%. The hardest part when it comes to learning programming in learning how to break problems down into simple little if statements and loops. Once you get a solid handle on any one language, jumping to another is much easier. So pick whatever you’re most comfortable with, or whatever tutorial/learning you find best.
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.
