Pick a language, any language

<p dir="auto">When you <a href="http://blog.humblecoder.com/getting-started-with-programming/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">get started with programming one of the first obstacles is picking a language. A mistake beginners often make is asking experienced developers where they should start: <p dir="auto"><img src="https://images.hive.blog/768x0/http://www.humblecoder.com/content/images/2015/09/ddg_which_language.png" alt="Search which language" srcset="https://images.hive.blog/768x0/http://www.humblecoder.com/content/images/2015/09/ddg_which_language.png 1x, https://images.hive.blog/1536x0/http://www.humblecoder.com/content/images/2015/09/ddg_which_language.png 2x" /> <p dir="auto">The truth is <strong>it doesn't matter. <p dir="auto">The first programming language I was taught was <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal_%28programming_language%29" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">Pascal. This was long after <a href="http://blog.humblecoder.com/the-first-bug-i-created/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">my childhood experiments with ST BASIC. The year was 1998 and I was 17 years old. In case you're not familiar with pascal, here's its "hello, world": <pre><code>program HelloWorld; begin WriteLn('Hello World') end. <p dir="auto"><strong>I've not used this language since. If you were to ask me to write a program using this language now, I'd need a book. In fact, I had to search for the example above. <p dir="auto">That doesn't mean it was a waste of time. Through Pascal I learned basic programming concepts such as variable assignment, loops and if statements; it even introduced me to object oriented programming. <p dir="auto">I had a blast creating text-based GUI's. I remember during a lesson when the power went out I was so in the zone <strong>I geeked out and began writing code with a pen on paper. It was fun! <p dir="auto">Programming languages share a lot of concepts. As a beginner, it's more important for you to learn those concepts than to focus on learning a particular language. Instead of trying to find the best language, take the advice of Allen Wirfs-Brock and think of it in terms of a toolbox that will grow: <div> <blockquote><p dir="auto">2/Practitioners shouldn't think in terms of technology winners and losers. Rather use a growing tool box and learn pros/cons of each tool<a href="https://twitter.com/awbjs/status/634813993597562880" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">August 21, 2015<span>— Allen Wirfs-Brock (<a href="/@awbjs">@awbjs) <p dir="auto">Or to use the same analogy I used in <a href="http://blog.humblecoder.com/getting-started-with-programming/" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">getting started with programming, where I compared learning programming to learning to ride a bike: <strong>you would never ask someone which bike you should learn to ride first. Any bike will do, so long as you can reach the pedals. <p dir="auto">Regardless of the language you choose you will learn something. You'll add another tool to your growing toolbox. So just <strong>pick a language, any language, and start having fun. <hr /> <p dir="auto">Banner image copyright <a href="http://varianto25.com/playing-cards/code-deck" target="_blank" rel="nofollow noreferrer noopener" title="This link will take you away from hive.blog" class="external_link">CODE:DECK.