Comment by grdvnl | Hacker News Reader

Comment by grdvnl | Hacker News Reader

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I have been thinking about a similar question. What is the best way to learn a language? Or how does one equip oneself to pick up any language to start coding up the basic tasks[ignoring the intricacies the language provides]. Does learning one kind of a language help with learning other languages?

I started learning programming with C and little bit of C++, before I started working on real life projects in Java and C#. Since then, I have dabbled in Python, ML, Racket and more recently Clojure. So what did I learn from all this? It is best to learn any language by learning the concepts or the \ how the language implements/solves that concept.

For example, teaching the general concept of "environment" some declaration resides in helps understand any languages "scoping" behavior more easily.

So, the bottom line is teaching any language by way of 'programming language concepts' and just using the language to realize those concepts would go a long way.

I've been thinking about this too. It appeals to me to start off with something like Scheme, then learn asm and C to understand how machines work (at least conceptually). That way the basis of proper functions and computing is in your mind, and you're not overcome with the hardware details first. OTOH, I look at my own path, starting on BASIC, C, ASP and then onto assembly and functional - and I wonder if it would have been easy for me to start off where I currently am. As an "expert" now, is my viewpoint so warped that I mistakenly think that old-me would have immediately picked up ML and functional concepts?

Going from Scheme to asm and then on to C would take a lot of personal dedication into learning how computers work. Much of the interest to learn programming is to make something cool. I made a small game in Delphi when I was younger. I toyed with Basic to ensure that my gorilla's bananas would always destroy the computer's gorilla. It was basic, simple and I learned a lot of new concepts. I'm sure you did the same thing.

I wish I learned asm and C when I was younger but honestly, I don't think I would have stuck it out. So while my first thought right now would to say "learn C as it will help you understand many other programming languages," my honest advice would be to "make something in any language you want, just have fun."

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