Speaker 1: Programming languages are not NFTs. They are not Pokemon cards. They are not something you collect. They are not something where you collect 10 of them and you get hired for a job. In truth, if you're new to programming, you can skip a majority of them. Most of the commonly recommended languages for new programmers are time wasters or at worst will demoralize you. So if you're new, you're self-taught, you're looking to choose that first programming language, let me show you which ones that you can completely skip. Let's start by knocking out two birds with one stone. I would avoid C-sharp and Java. Now you have to understand, this hurts me deep in my bones because I am a huge fan of C-sharp. And look, in truth, C-sharp and Java both are very popular programming languages. They have a large online community of support and knowledge of either can absolutely lead to landing a job. But my biggest grievance with both is fairly simple. Neither are that easy to get up and running and to make progress with, at least if you're new. For example, C-sharp, you have to download the .NET Runtime, the .NET Framework. You have to compile your code to something. So you need a command line tool. You need to download Visual Studio or have an extension in Visual Studio Code. And in the beginning, while you're learning, if you want to build some projects, you're pretty much limited to console applications, which is pretty boring. Java has some similar challenges with the setup process, but for most of you guys who are new to this field entirely, this is going to be a bar that's just a little bit too high for you. So instead, what you want to pick is something that's relatively easy to start coding projects with right away. For example, JavaScript is a great example of a programming language where all you need is a code editor and a browser, and you can start building websites, web applications fairly quickly. So save Java and C Sharp for later on down the line. The next language you should leave off your list is C++. I've heard quite a few people recommending C++ as your first programming language because they'll say something like, this is the right way to learn programming. To me, that thinking is like if you hire a personal trainer to get in shape and tell them the only way you can get in shape is if you start bench pressing 500 pounds right away. It's just too much. C++ is not your average programming language. It's a low-level programming language, which means that it has direct access to a computer's resources, such as memory and CPU registers. This means that you, as a programmer, have to learn how memory management works and other low-level tasks. This is a good thing, many seasoned programmers will say, but in reality, for many of you, just learning the fundamentals of how programming works is hard enough. We don't have to add anything else more advanced on there. It's better instead to pick a high-level programming language like Python where you don't have direct access to resources and you don't have to learn about memory management. Now, that being said, if you personally have an indomitable will, you have patience, and you have a lot of time in your hands, then go ahead and choose C++. Now, have I insulted you yet by tearing down your favorite programming language? If the answer is no, then what you should probably do is go down and hit that subscribe button because I wanna get your subscription before I completely alienate you. So, moving on here. Another language you'll often hear recommended is SQL, pronounced sequel. You should not learn this first because, well, for one, it's not a true programming language. It's actually a query language. A query language has some programmatic aspects, but its main purpose is to query data from relational databases. And for those of you who are non-techy, a database is kind of like an Excel spreadsheet and that query language is really good at filtering out information, inserting information, et cetera, et cetera. Now, I do recommend down the line learning SQL once you have some programming experience and you have a need for a database, but for now, skip it. The next programming language I'm actually going to recommend avoiding is a very widely used programming language. According to some of the statistics I've seen, this programming language is used in something like 70% plus of websites that you visit. The language, of course, that I'm talking about is PHP. Now, why on earth would you wanna avoid something that's so widely used? For two main reasons. Number one, the first language that you learn may not be the one that you land a job with. So you don't wanna choose a programming language solely on popularity. And number two is it suffers from some of the same problems of C-sharp and Java, meaning it's hard to get set up. Like I remember way back when when I was first learning, it was very hard for me to set up a WAMP server and it's also difficult to start getting projects under running with PHP. With all of that being said, I think PHP is an excellent second language to learn despite what you may hear online. A lot of professional developers hate it. What I have found is that the syntax is actually quite readable for new developers and using something like the Laravel framework is pretty helpful for developing a nifty web app. So choose something else first, learn PHP later on. All right, so I'm gonna continue to alienate many of you here and say that the next two languages that you should avoid are Swift and Kotlin. Both of these languages are primarily used for mobile app development, with Swift being for iOS and macOS and Kotlin being for Android. The thing is I found that both of these programming languages are excellent to learn once you have a foundational skillset with programming, but it suffers from the same problems as many of the other programming languages I've talked about. The main one being that it's hard to get up and running. You have to get handheld through so many tutorials and even coming up with project ideas to get started is a hard and difficult process. The only people I think would benefit from Swift or Kotlin as a first programming language is somebody who is dead set on being a native mobile developer. So somebody who has no interest in web development or anything like that. That leaves us with one last question, which is what should I learn? I've alluded to it before, but I think Python and JavaScript are both excellent languages. I personally recommend JavaScript, but keep in mind you could pick any of the programming languages that I said not to learn and you could still be successful. If you have discipline, if you have grit, if you can commit to this for a long period of time, you can be successful with anything. Picking a first programming language shouldn't be complicated, so don't overthink this. Pick something, stick to it for two or three months, learn as much as you can, I promise you good things will happen. By the way, you should know, I've created a free PDF called the Self-Taught Programmer Study Manual. I've tried to put as much wisdom as I could about how to be a self-taught programmer, how to get the most out of your studying. If you want a copy of that free PDF, I will leave a link in the description below how you can access that. Other than that, thank you so much for watching. Peace out, everybody.