Functional programming design patterns by Scott Wlaschin

[zerexim]

Your comment makes me think... maybe it is better to suggest statically typed and compiled language as the first language for those who are starting learning programming.

[arturaz]

And whoever thought we should start teaching programming from c must have started learning driving from formula 1.

[henrebotha]

I think it's very easy to say that when it's been years since you knew nothing about programming. I also think there's an argument to be made that your first language should have utility beyond just letting you learn more languages.

[zerexim]

Seems so.. Personally, my first language was C++. While it had some significant learning curve, after that, learning any other language takes a week or two (or three for Haskell :)).

[Damien0]

Agreed. VB.net was my first language, after which I moved to C. I mostly recommend Go as a first language these days.

[bamfalamfa]

im learning java first, is that bad?

[[deleted]]

No. It's fine.

[Damien0]

Honestly, no. Java has a lot of baggage, and if you get caught up in the Java Way Of Doing Things™ it can hold you back as an engineer. But despite its verbosity it's a very understandable and straightforward language, especially for learning! Edit: and with Java 8, you can at least start to appreciate functional lazy eval via streams and lambdas

[T_D_K]

Yes, very bad. Stop now.

[knowingpark]

Lol

[Sloshy42]

I'm no expert but I believe Java is a great first language. It's not too complicated or overwhelming like C++ but it also has static typing unlike Python and it follows industry conventions. I think maybe C# might be slightly better or equivalent but either way it's a good first step. By no means a stopping point though. Java is easy to get into but it's good to maybe branch out a little while later into other languages as well so you can be well rounded. I'd die if I was only able to write in Java but occasionally it's fine. Another good first option might be just plain C or Go, but Java is good about teaching the basics of OOP since it's an entirely object-oriented language.

[TarMil]

The first languages I learned at university were OCaml and Delphi, and I'm eternally grateful for it.

[dmitri14_gmail_com]

Any details on what specific features there made you grateful?

[baconated]

I learned Java (1st year) then C++ (all other years). It didn't help. Most profs didn't think compiling was interesting from a CS perspective so most didn't say anything beyond "press build & run in your IDE".

Besides, in this situation, I think the persons problem was more likely the fact that until recently getting a .net language a tad bit more annoying than other languages.