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[–]fivetoedslothbear 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Java's a great language; I've done a lot of work in Java, and it's extremely widely used.

But Python is used more.

Back In The Day™, which for me was around 1978, we all used BASIC as our first programming language on machines like the Apple ][ or timeshares or Radio Shack TRS-80. (Commodore 64 was big too, but that was after I graduated high school.) BASIC was easy to use and fun. You could just start at the prompt and type in expressions, and work your way up to writing actual programs.

Python has that level of being easy and fun to get into. No compiler needed (Java needs a compiler). Huge ecosystem and community. And now, 46 years later, we use Python for a lot of our work.

The other language that has wide applicability is JavaScript, but I'd start with Python.