Skip to main content
Hi webroot community,

For a computer novice who wants to learn programming, which language is it advisable to start with. I want to buy a book and learn but there are so many of them I'm confused. Btw, is the "basic" language still useful or has it been superseded?

Thanks
Hello @,

 

Welcome to the Webroot Community!

 

It's difficult to say without knowing what it is you want to achieve.



I would advise starting with something like a scripting language such as python, because it is fairly easy to learn instead of jumping right into a programming language.



Also, there are alot of really good free websites that you can teach you this as well.

 

You can learn quite a bit with codeacademy and I've personally used that for quite some time.



I hope this helps.

 

Best Regards,
Khan Academy has some nice stuff too:

https://www.khanacademy.org/computing/hour-of-code/hour-of-code-tutorial/v/anybody-can-learn-code

and I second codeadacademy.
I really don't know how I could forget about khan academy!



Definitely recommend that as well!
Thanks JamesG and Nick for your advice and suggestion to check out the Khan academy. In wanting to learn programming I don't have a specific purpose in mind; I just want to increase my knowledge in computing,  in a general sense. I thought there might be a natural progression of learning that students typically undertake. 
I'm sure there is from an academic standpoint.

 

Everything I know was self-taught or learned through trial and error. Fortunately I got started in C and C+ at an early age.



I would really say to check out both of those sites, but start with something like Python, it's not a programming language, but is widely used, easy to debug, and will provide you with a good base to build on.

 

You are very welcome and you can always ask if you have any questions.

 

Both of those sites are very well made though.

Reply