2. Oracle's Java is one of the web's longest standing, persistent,
and influential programming languages.You'll find Java at
the core of applications on and off the web, on all
platforms, operating systems, and devices. It's a deeply
featured class-based, object-oriented programming
language that's designed to be portable and workable on
as many platforms as possible. For that reason, it's also
one of the world's most popular programming languages,
which makes it incredibly valuable to learn if you're
interested in learning to program.The flip-side to Java is
that for all of its portability and applicability, it can be
quite difficult to grasp, and quite difficult to program
effectively and efficiently.
3. Ruby is a dynamic, open-source, object-oriented
programming language developed by computer
scientistYukihiro Matsumoto back in the 90s, which
makes it one of the youngest languages in broad use,
much less in this roundup. It was designed to have
syntax that was easy to read and to write by mere
humans, without necessarily needing to learn a
massive base of commands and specialized
"vocabulary" in order to get started.While the
language itself is object-oriented, it also supports
procedural, functional, and imperative programming,
one of the factors that makes it remarkably flexible.
4. When people discuss first programming languages and which
languages are easier for people to pick up quickly, Python
inevitably comes up. It was developed in the 80s by Guido van
Rossum, who then handed the language over to the non-profit
Python Software Foundation, which serves as the language's
administrator, and the language is open source and free to use,
even for commercial applications. Python is usually used and
referred to as a scripting language, allowing programmers to
churn out large quantities of easily readable and functional code in
short periods of time, but it's also dynamic, and supports object-
oriented, procedural, and functional programming styles, among
others.Thanks to its flexibility, Python is one of the most widely
used high-level programming languages today.
5. While strictly your nominations were for the C programming language and
less C++, we decided to go ahead and toss C++ next to it anyway since it's
the natural step up from C.Without getting too much into the rich and
detailed history of C, and then of C++ (which started off as a set of
improvements and updates to bring C into modern applications), let's
just say that both languages have been around since the 1970s and early
80s, respectively (you can read more at theWikipedia links above). C, for
its part, is an extremely widely-used, general purpose, imperative
programming language that's heavily influenced almost every language
that's followed it. C++ on the other hand took things a step further,
added object-oriented features like classes to the language, along with
virtual functions and templates. C++ is another of the world's most
popular programming languages, and is still in wide use today in
everything from video games to productivity software. C++ is a bit more
difficult to pick up than C, although many people would argue that
there's no reason to start with C anymore at all.That's a debate we're not
about to settle.
6. JavaScript, not to be confused with Java, is a scripting
language that was developed in the 90s by Brendan Eich,
formerly of Netscape Communications and now of the
Mozilla Foundation. JavaScript is one of the fundamental
technologies on which the web as we know it is based.
Don't be fooled though—JavaScript exists outside of the
browser as well, but largely in the context of connected
applications and services.The language itself is dynamic,
and gives programmers the flexibility to use object-
oriented programming styles (as the language itself is
mostly object oriented) as well as functional and
imperative ones. It derives much of its syntax from C, and
if you plan to do any development for the web in any
fashion, learning JavaScript should be on your list.