Informal poll: What are the most popular 1st languages?

[Bert Bates]

I've heard folks say that 10 years ago Java was rarely a programmer's first language - but that it's much more common now...

So for instance maybe its:

Java 40%
VB (or whatever .netters do) 20%
Ruby 15%
Python 10%
C# 5%
others 10%

php?

I just totally made that up, what do you think?
[ December 21, 2008: Message edited by: Bert Bates ]

[Piet Verdriet]

TIOBE has a nice index:
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/

[Jesper de Jong]

What exactly do you mean with "first language"; the language that a programmer uses the most, or the first language that the programmer learned?

[Bert Bates]

I meant the first programming language a programmer learned

[fred rosenberger]

back in middle school, i first learned BASIC.

In college, I took a class in Pascal, but didn't use it for anything beyond the class.

When I went back to college for CS, I took both Visual Basic and C the same semester. the C stuck, the VB, not so much.

C was the first language I used professionally.

[Jelle Klap]

Pascal for me.

[Piet Verdriet]

Originally posted by Bert Bates:
I meant the first programming language a programmer learned

Ah, I see. Then the answer is Java.

[Bear Bibeault]

BASIC

[Rob Spoor]

GCL - Guarded Command Language, a theoretical language defined by my university's god - Edsger Dijkstra.

Pascal was the first "real" language I learned.

Well, of course I'm ignoring the little bit of Logo I did in grammar school. Can't even remember a single bit of it.

[fred rosenberger]

Bert, it may also help if you get WHEN a person first learned. i.e. someone who's been programming for 30 years will have a different answer than someone who is in school today learning.

[Bert Bates]

My bad...

What do you guess / think / surmise the most popular first computer languages are NOW, in late 2008?

[Rob Spoor]

My guess would be Java and C#

[Jesper de Jong]

Originally posted by Bert Bates:
I meant the first programming language a programmer learned

Commodore BASIC v2, on the Commodore 64, when I was 13.

After that 6502 assembly language (also on the C64), C, Pascal, C++. The first year at university we had a course in Scheme. The first programming language I used on my job was C, later C++, and Java since about 1999.

Java didn't exist when I started programming, and when I was in school.

The answer depends greatly on the age of the developer, and when he or she was in school.

[laborc hu]

c was my first language for me,but now I love java

[Michael Dunn]

recent times observation, the first language is netbeans :-)

[Campbell Ritchie]

I first learned BASIC in 1971

[Steve Fahlbusch]

From what i see from my current students:
25% java
30% c++ (and c)
20% basic (and vb)
10% pascal
10% php
-- others --

[Amit Ghorpade]

In school I learned BASIC and LOGO
as a programmer C,Assembly then C++,Java and then more Java and...

[Vijitha Kumara]

I started programming just a few years ago for my diploma with little bit of JAVA and VB. In university most subjects were based on Java examples and some were C and C++.
But now I couldn't get away from JAVA

[Bert Bates]

uncle :roll:

[Mark Vedder]

Originally posted by Bert Bates:
uncle :roll:

LOL - well, I'll try to get everyone back on target for you Bert. In terms of what are the most common first languages today in 2008... of the co-ops we interview, C++ and Java are the two most common languages by far. It depends mostly on which college/university they went to. I think Java is starting to win out in terms of popularity. It's hard to say if those are the first languages the students were ever exposed to. I think for some, PHP may be the first computer programming some of them did, given its rise in usage for everyday web sites.

For non comp sci majors (i.e. MIS, IT, etc), it's not uncommon to see VB - *shudder*.

[Mike Simmons]

HTML.

What? Why are you looking at me like that?

OK, truth be told, I'm another Logo/Basic guy.

[sudipto shekhar]

I learned LOGO and then BASIC back in the year 1994.
And after around 11 years in the year 2005 I learned Java in my graduation degree.
For the students here in India,Java is now taught in their 9th year of schooling which is just one year before the student passes her first boundary of schooling i.e Board exams.
Schools are now teaching Object Oriented Programming as the base programming language.
So I think back here in India Java is becoming the first language for students,very rapidly.

[vinaykumar postwhiz]

HEY WHY IS EVERYONE TALKING ABOUT BASIC AND JAVA.
IS'NT C LANGUAGE THE FIRST LANGUAGE ANYONE LEARNS.
I CANT SEE ANYONE TRYING TO LEARN ANY OTHER LANGUAGE WITHOUT KNOWING "C".

[Rob Spoor]

Please Keep It Down. No need for all the capital letters.

And no, C is definitely not the first language everybody learns. Some people may start with C, but definitely not everybody. And I agree with those who don't. C, with its pointers and all, is not the easiest place to start. In fact, it's one of the hardest languages I've worked with, and that list is not small.

Beginners do well to start with an easier language, and Basic and PHP are quite easy. Others like Java and C# remove the necessity of taking care of your own memory management, so that's also nice for beginners.

After a while I would encourage programmers to at least be able to read C in its full complexity, but only after the basics are already well-known.

[Paul Clapham]

The first language I learned was Fortran. The first language I was paid to program in was also Fortran, in 1968. I have written programs in many other languages since then but never in C or C++.

[Amir Alagic]

At home it was old BASIC then Pascal but at school it was JAVA.

[Manuel Leiria]

Fortran and C

[Jimmy Clark]

Beginner's All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code (1981)

[Gopi Arumugam]

I am agree with this
http://www.tiobe.com/index.php/content/paperinfo/tpci/

[Campbell Ritchie]

"Gopivista" please read the important administrative private message I just sent you.

[Jesus Angeles]

Answering this question might imply our age. =)

For me, it is BASIC on Apple computer.

I think it could still be BASIC on most introductory school courses, like those for kids.
[ December 31, 2008: Message edited by: Jesus Angeles ]

[Jacob Steingart]

Being a mere teenager, I haven't had all that much time to learn languages, but my first language was BASIC. Got bored after that and picked up Java. After about a year of that I went on and learned (and am still learning due to my tendency to constantly drift back to my beloved Java, even though I'm still learning Java ) C++, RGSS/Ruby, Python, C, C#, and Lua. I figure the more I know, the more likely it is I'll get a job some day. I consider Java to be my first language, but I think other likely candidates for common first languages would be BASIC, Python, and C.

[colton peterson]

I learned Java, using only Head First Java and the Java api, so thank you very much for writing it

[Sujai Kaarthik]

My mother tongue!

If it is programming language, then it is C!, but thats only for one semester. Then I chose Java as my programming language. Infact, C made learning Java easy

[Sagar Rohankar]

A way back in 2003 , a first year of my engineering, We had C in our semester course , so C is my first programming language. But I used to get binary marks in all Unit Tests , like 0 and 1..

Then In second year, our worst teacher taught us the best language , Java, which I used professionally, now..


I respect C and suggest to start programming with it, but I love Java.

So the answer is C, my first programming language..

[Balu Sadhasivam]

Well the best way to start posting is introduce myself and thanks for the forum starter (Bert).

Back in my school , i got to know about C and that helped me to unleash my "programming skills" .

The perfect high level language to start for any beginner.

[Harvinder Thakur]

Though the programming language's i learnt were BASIC, C and C++ in that order.
But i guess in 2008 it has got to be Java and C#.

[Chitta Ranjan Mahato]

MY ROOT WAS C, C++,JAVA

[Tyler Eastman]

I started programming in mid 2009 as a diversion from my college studies (music major at the time, switched to liberal arts).

1st: Python
2nd: C
3rd: C++
4th: Java

Java is by far my favorite due to it's simplicity and flexibility. Plus in Oregon it seems to be very in demand. Now if I can just hone my skills and actually find a job doing it!