madeleine olyphant
The Best Programming Language For You to Learn. A few people have asked me what would be the most useful or best coding language to learn.
Skipping aside HTML/CSS—I think the answer rests on what you want to do with code. Javascript and its frameworks are really useful for building something with just one language. Angular.js can control the front side of the website that displays to your users, Node.js will act as a web server that can host all of your content, Express.js runs in the middle directing where information goes, and MongoDB acts as the storage center for data you accumulate from your users—the MEAN (Mongo/Express/Angular/Node) technology stack—an organizing framework that helps build everything you’d need for a web application—is the one favoured by a whole lot of startups these days.
Larry Wall: 5 Programming Languages Everyone Should Know. Five Best Programming Languages for First-Time Learners. Don't learn to code. Learn to think. It seems like everyone is trying to learn to code: Code.org has celebrities like Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg, and Chris Bosh telling you anyone can code; CoderDojo's are springing up all over the country; the UK has made it part of their official curriculum for all grade school kids.
I think this is slightly misguided. Don't get me wrong - I do think the world would be better off if everyone had some familiarity with coding - but coding itself should not be the goal. Computers and programming are just tools. They are a means to an end.