About Programming Languages #
Programming languages are the way programmers express ideas to create programs. They’re the tools—the hammer, if you will—that make it possible to implement a solution.
There are tons of programming languages out there. Here are a few you might have heard of:
- JavaScript
- Python
- C
- Java
- Lua
- Go
- Rust
- OCaml
- And many, many more…
The point of showing this variety is to highlight that the specific language you use doesn’t really matter—until it does. Since this is an introduction, we’ll assume you have little or no experience with programming. And if you do, just know that this book isn’t aiming to be rigorous or academic.
Because of that, the choice of programming language to start with isn’t all that important. What is important is that you understand the underlying concepts:
- What is a variable?
- What is a loop?
- What is a program?
- How do you run a program?
- What is a function?
And so on. These are the foundational ideas that make programming make sense. Once you understand them, learning any language becomes much easier—because the core ideas are mostly the same.
After getting a first introduction to programming—and once the core ideas start to click—choosing a specific language can become more important, especially when it comes time to look for a job, or implementing solutions for specific problems.