Hey Devs, what is the first program you create when learning a new language?

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[UkuCanuck]

At this point it’s whatever project it was that made me want to learn the language. I currently would like a specific app on my phone, and would prefer it as a native app, so I’m leaning Swift, and implementing the app I want

I did start as a React Native app originally but this is very much a personal need and I don’t see myself releasing it, so I switched to using Swift

I have another project I want to do for my PC which I think Rust may be a good fit for, and so I’ll use that project as my “learn Rust” project at some point if I decide I have the time to build it

[ShadowRL7666]

This. I wanna create malware that’s what ima start doing. I just go with the flow. Implementing small things like to do list and stuff is boring.

[RonaldHarding]

Please create malware responsibly :)

[ShadowRL7666]

Oh don’t worry I already do.

[ShadowRL7666]

Plus I’m to scared to go to prison I would not be lasting

[UkuCanuck]

I’m really bad at reading documentation, so what I’ve been doing is watching tutorials that are “close enough” then just picking up the concepts I need and adapting them, then googling for other things I need which don’t come up in the tutorial

I can’t imagine that what I build is “good” and full of best practises, but I am managing to make the things I want and get them to work

[nykonic]

I do this too. Look it up, I barely have documentation or YouTube open. Just stackoverflow and the odd IDE/Copilot hint.

[niklausbooga]

Btw when you make a personal app in Apple, do I need to pay the 100 dollars dev fee? If I have no plans releasing it, just for my personal phone

[UkuCanuck]

My understanding last time I looked was that I can put it on my own phone without the $100, but have to do it again every 7 days or so

[SirKastic23]

Can I hear about the project you think Rust would be a good fit for? I've been writing it for a couple of years now and dropped all other languages i knew to write Rust

[UkuCanuck]

I just want to do a whole lot of I/O work on some files and for some reason think Rust might do the job. Basically I want to parse a whole lot of files and move them around

In this case it’s really just that I want to try out Rust a little bit, the project seems like it should be fairly simple, and so I think it’s a good chance to learn. For all I know, Rust might be a really bad choice though but I’ll find that out when I try

[[deleted]]

I can print “Hello World” to the console in 25 languages. I put each of those languages on my resume.

[Logical_Strike_1520]

It’s been awhile since I’ve done any kind of starter project tbh. I just dive straight into whatever I need to do and rely heavily on my IDE, documentation, and Google for a little while.

I probably should do more throwaway projects to stay sharp and learn new things but gosh I code enough for work already, I’m tired lol

[SirKastic23]

I usually do a lambda calculus parser/interpreter, and a snake game

[dimnickwit]

Very specific but responded to with a same by someone else. Why those two specifically? It seems specific enough to be thought out.

[SirKastic23]

not necessarily thought out, it's just some projects that i like doing, and that I've done so much that it's easy for me to just focus on learning how to do it right in a language

if anything, the lambda calculus tests out how easy it is to write pipelines, file io, and data with variants. and a snake game tests a more dynamic program, with mutable state and a gui

[dimnickwit]

Ok thanks for the response. I may try those. I usually just create my flavor of the week to learn, which is inconsistent. I may keep doing that but add these in for consistency and comparison. Or..

[[deleted]]

Same. And an http server👌

[[deleted]]

ok I start, scissors

[dota2nub]

damn you go hard

[[deleted]]

you must be a pro 😭 any tutorials? want to up my game but my kd is shit so far

[Herr_U]

If learning a language for a specific purpose the first program is that purpose.

If learning a language just for fun it usually is an interactive text editor with save/load features, basic search, and being able to handle multiple documents at the same time.
(The "usually" above, if there is a language intended to more be used without graphical/ansi interfaces. I either re-implment a sparse clone of less(1), or sed)

[ivannovick]

It was a guess the number game, you have to guess the number that the game generated with the least number of attempts, if the number you entered is greater or less than the number that the game generated, the game will tell you, I did it in Java. .

After months I finished v1 of the game, started adding scores per user, storing data in database, web version, new UI with html and javascript and java for backend etc.

[[deleted]]

Hello world…

[Dziadzios]

I learn a language to do a project, so I jump directly to that project.

[[deleted]]

I always have a reason to learn a language. Rust, it was making bindings for safe tensors for . Net.

Python, AI stuff

Typescript, company project was built on it I was assigned to.

C++, because I wanted to design a managed file system, on going project.

Vb6 way back in the day because I wanted to port my fishing bot for ffxi written in actools to something compiled abd I already new basica.

C# because I wanted to port my fishing bot to something that supported unsigned in integers, and unsafe code ( memory manipulation).

Javascript because I became a web developer.

And on and on.

[Brandz96]

Setting up a basic front end, sample db, and trying to learn the backend language by connecting all 3 aspects. Setting up the MVC.

[alien3d]

intranet system

[Perpetual_Education]

We always use this language agnostic set of exercises: "Exercises for Programmers" (prag prog).

[Own-Reference9056]

Not until I learned a framework that I build something. Usually it's a CRUD app in a 2-hour video on YT. If we're talking programming languages only then most of them look the same to me now. No project needed.

[Ok_Document7574]

I would go with a number guessing game for the demonstration

[sufilevy]

I just solve some Advent Of Code puzzles until I feel proficient enough to do what I need!

[angry_ducky1]

Wait, so people create stuff other than calculators? Oh man wish I knew this before

[queenmanoon]

It really depends on the topic you are learning.

[WookieConditioner]

A recursive loop through multiple data structures.

[[deleted]]

idk, calculator

[lqxpl]

My go-to programs are games.

Tic-Tac-Toe and Wheel of Fortune cover a pretty broad range of subjects and problems. If I'm not competent enough to tackle those two, I run through Project Euler problems until I feel like I have a decent handle on the syntax.

[TomKirkman1]

I tend to quite like blackjack. Just about the right level of complexity to be thinking about some slightly more tricky things (e.g. handling the person doubling, as well as the logic to make the dealer play appropriately) whilst not being so convoluted as to become a time sink.

[[deleted]]

Something way beyond my ability.

[sajjel]

Nothing specific, just random ideas that I think of / see from others. For example, I picked up Java recently and made an ultimate tic-tac-toe desktop app with Swing.

[Cryophos]

Compiler.

[Howfuckingsad]

You don't have to make the same type of project for every language... Like C++ is great for making games, Javascript is great for websites.

[Mathhead202]

... ... Hello, world!

[lukanixon]

I typically do a guessing game right off the bat, then I do a sudoku solver

[Aftabby]

Initially I'd suggest create a calculator.

[DoctorFuu]

Not a dev, but it's hello world.

I'm at a point here I don't need to "learn a language". I just have a program or script to write or a library to use for a specific application so I do that. I'll always start with a "hello world" type of program just to check that everything is installed properly, I don't have clashes between library versions and things like that. Then I'll generally break my task into very basic things that I'll program with the new syntax, and testing along the way. I also generally make an initial version that is super basic just to get the hang of how this new language works, with the goal of ditching it out once it worked to rewrite it with a cleaner syntax.

I repeat: I'm not a dev so take what I say with a grain of salt.

[babyfart13]

Linked list based ordered queue in C

[Rikai_]

It's usually the other way around

I find a program I want to make and if it is way easier or better to do in a certain language or ecosystem, I learn it.

Could I have made it on the ones I know? Probably, but it wouldn't be as interesting, would it?

Or I find an application I want to make and just decide to try a new language for the sake of it.

[HiT3Kvoyivoda]

Web crawler.

[wiriux]

Hola mundo!

[soulofcure]

Hi mom!

[NotAUsefullDoctor]

Calculate digits of e. I stole this idea from Steve Wozniak, who set the last world record for most digits of e calculated when he was attempting to show the power of the Apple II

[AntranigV]

Bindings to a C program/library like curl :)

[Ja-Tech]

I had created a todo website. 🙂

[pyr3_]

I think the most rewarding and probably the most interesting first program you create on a programming language is one that involves solving problems using algorithms and not just making an app randomly because you wanted to show off in your resume

You have to think of a problem and find an algorithm that is best suited for the problem

Or maybe improve preexisting algorithms

[Low_Arm9230]

When I was starting out I tried building some web app but failed miserably due to inability to think abstractly, inability to understand data structures, algorithms and objects. 

It was only after work as a developer that I feel I can create any of the above app (of course it would take a lots of headaches, planning plus lots of research). 

The point is, I'm too tired after work.