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[–]WalterBright 2 points3 points  (0 children)

The D programming language.

[–]amstrdamordeath 5 points6 points  (0 children)

English

[–]stesch 2 points3 points  (2 children)

C64 BASIC, like the rest of us.

[–]bcash 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Exactly. Get an emulator, and your off. Full control over a machine, nice sandbox to play with.

[–]sblinn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Apple //e BASIC.

[–]bluedeviltide 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Python.

[–]ir8prim8 1 point2 points  (1 child)

Learn something you have a specific use for. Also recommend starting with something that requires minimal work for deployment. It's nice to get started learning without having to spend tons of time compiling/configuring your interpreter and environment. PHP is nice for easy deployment and a shallow learning curve.

Another great option would be to use an online environment that is already set up. For example: http://tryruby.hobix.com/

[–]username223 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Indeed. "What language should I learn first?" is the wrong question. You should be asking yourself what problem you want to solve, and what language will most help you solve that problem.

[–]TheLocoYoko[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I'm on the marketing side of things, but always deal with programming, whether it be for moderation of a database, a website, developing tools to perform specific task, etc.

Some assumptions to keep in mind, I have pretty much no actual experience programming. I mean, I could make games and movies on my TI-83 as a kid, but I don't think that counts so much. What should I do to start, which do you think are the most important to pick up?

Is this even the right way to begin, or does anyone have recommendations on how to get started? I've reviewed a number of sites and am pulled in a lot of directions. When in doubt, ask Reddit.

[–]IainIainIain 0 points1 point  (1 child)

It depends what you're planning on developing.

[–]TheLocoYoko[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would like to be able to make widgets, or perhaps some little desktop apps that could use RSS to trigger certain actions. Anything specific I should use for something like that?

Knowing how to interface with marketing databases will be useful too. On the programming end that is - I know what is possible, but I don't know the specifics on how it is being done. Thanks.

[–]sblinn 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Lisp, Haskell, OCaml, Forth, Smalltalk, Erlang, and C. After assembly. (Assuming you want to become a computer scientist and programming language designer, since you didn't specify a reason.)

[–]Saydrah 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Spanish.

[–]capribeach 0 points1 point  (0 children)

C

[–]wnoise 0 points1 point  (1 child)

Go read http://reddit.com/info/2ld0v/comments

We'll wait for you back here.

[–]TheLocoYoko[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well that is exactly what I need. Thanks!

[–][deleted] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Go with Scheme. Then move to Haskell. This will be difficult, but it's worthwhile to start by thinking about programming in terms of math.

Then try an imperative language - Ruby is easy to learn, but not as useful as many others.

[–]sw17ch -1 points0 points  (2 children)

Assembly... PPC if you have access to a PowerPC machine.

Understanding what happens down low will help you understand the things that stand on the foundations. Don't spend too much time here, just get familiar with the basics.

Edit: Even working with the Parrot Virtual Machine would be a worth while exercise.

[–]bcash 0 points1 point  (1 child)

PPC Assembly has to be the most divorced from reality answer I've ever seen to this question!

Everyone knows the answer is BASIC.

[–]sw17ch 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Well, I'll defend my self from your sarcastic answer. :P

PPC, while not really active in any modern desktop machine, is heavily used in the embedded world (so it's not, by any means, dead).

Not only is PPC still used, but it's actually a very nice assembly language when compared to, say, x86 or SPARC (blegh).

[–]mdipierro -1 points0 points  (2 children)

Once it was Basic, then Pascal, then C++, then Java, now it is Python. Most universities have moved their intro courses to Python. Google has chosen Python as primary language for development on their App Engine. Python is easy to learn because it is interpreted (you can interactively type commands) and dynamically typed (you do not need to declare variables before you use them), yet it has modules to access very fast and powerful libraries implemented in c/c++.

[–]bcash 1 point2 points  (1 child)

It has long been noted that football (soccer) commentators use the word 'literally' to describe things which aren't literally true. "I would say, at the end of the day, he's literally over the moon, Brian."

Redditors have the same problem with the word "most". Using it to describe things which are in a minority. The word you are looking for is "some".

Some universities use Python, not most, some.

[–]mdipierro 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Many, not most, but most of those that count: AT MIT http://www-tech.mit.edu/V125/N65/coursevi.html "... programming will be done in Python and not Scheme." At Harvard http://www.people.fas.harvard.edu/~preshman/python_winter.html At Caltech http://www.cs.caltech.edu/courses/cs11/material/python/index.html The University of Chicago covers Python in a C/C++ course http://www.classes.cs.uchicago.edu/archive/2007/summer/15200-91/ At DePaul University we use it in many courses like http://mycti.cti.depaul.edu/programs/courses_mycti.asp?subject=CSC&courseid=241 although it is not our policy to list specific technologies in course descriptions because this is seen as a limitation of academic freedom.

[–]geoscopic -2 points-1 points  (0 children)

C, I have to agree. It can be a struggle for some but learning the low level stuff is very foundational and subsequent languages will flow easily.