Programming | Big Data | Open Source | Web development Which Programming Languages Should I Learn First? February 3, 2022

Neil Chaudhuri (He/Him)

LinkedIn

People who want to get into programming often ask me which languages to learn first, but as Dee tells Naomi on the series premier of her eponymous TV show, “I can’t give you answers when you’re not asking the right questions.”

I think it’s more helpful to identify which problems you want to solve first. Do you want to build a website to sell your mom’s amazing ghee? Look at Shopify, Squarespace, or Wix for a low- or no-code approach or Next.js or Remix Run for a bespoke site. Do you want to build a data model that can help American football coaches decide whether they should go for it on 4th down? Look at Anaconda or Tensor Flow Lite.

Don’t let me stop you if you’re jonesing to learn a particular programming language. But if you take my advice and come at the learning process from the point of view of providing a real business need (Your own business need counts!), figure out which tools, libraries, and frameworks make the most sense as you try to deliver for yourself and learn something along the way.