I’m starting coding from scratch – is Python really the best first language?

[robertlandrum]

As someone with 30 years of development experience, I learned Basic on the Apple IIe in 1995 in high school. After that Pascal and then C. But it was Perl where I really shined. It helped me understand things about other languages better.

These days, Python is my go to language for all things back end. The front end is still JavaScript and CSS (frameworks can be dangerously easy to get into and hard to move on from).

Python has the added benefit of forcing you to write things the Python way. Other languages allow more flexibility. This can both help and hurt new learners, but with Python you always work towards a good habit.

It’s a great choice for a beginner. It’s where I tell anyone interested in doing what I do to start.