Entering the world of programming

Programming is the art and science of communicating with a computer so that it may perform a task. Programming can be done using a variety of programming languages, and while each language is able to communicate with a computer, each language has its own strengths and weaknesses due to the way they were designed as well as how the community has grown it over time.

One of the biggest concerns a person has when entering the world of programming is which language to learn first. This is a valid concern, as learning a programming language requires a significant investment of time and can determine your career path. Thankfully, once you have learned one programming language, the skills you have learned are highly transferable to your next programming language.

Having said that, the resources on this page can help you explore the many programming languages there are so you can make as best choice as possible in choosing your first (or second or beyond) programming language.

Explore Programming Languages

Most programming languages have grown to be more well suited for a type of task over others, let's explore what programming languages are used in a few popular disciplines. Popularity rankings come from the Stack Overflow 2022 survey. While most programming languages these days may support multiple paradigms, we choose the one that most people will associate with it when first starting out or the paradigm that its syntax is most inspired from when the paradigm usage is close in popularity.

Meanings of Paradigm and Type:

• Paradigm: A style of expressing code which shapes the way code is structured and used.
• Declarative: Focuses on specifying what needs to be done, rather than describing how to do it by letting the programming language or system the language runs on determine the most efficient way to achieve the desired result.
• Functional: Emphasizes the use of pure functions, this is when the output of a function is based solely on its input without effecting states outside of the function.
• Object Oriented: Collects code into objects, which are instances of abstract, modular, and reusable classes that encapsulate data and behavior.
• Procedural: Organizes code into reusable procedures or functions that perform specific tasks or operations by focusing on step-by-step execution of a series of statements.
• Type: Type systems help enforce type correctness and provide compile-time or runtime checks to ensure that operations are performed on compatible data.
• Dynamic: The type of a variable is determined and checked at runtime; flexibile, forgiving, and easy to get started with.
• Static: The type of a variable is checked at compile-time, usually requiring a compile step; reducing the likelihood of runtime type mismatches and providing additional safety and optimization opportunities.

Click on the language logo to learn more about it.

Feel free to run the code below to get an idea of what the language syntax is like. At the moment, we only have a few languages available, but we will be working to add more in the future.

Example 1: Hello World Example 2: Functions Example 3: Objects juliapythonr

Explore Disciplines

Having explored the programming languages used in a few popular disciplines, let us now explore the disciplines themselves.

Data Science

Data science is a field that uses scientific methods, processes, algorithms and systems to extract knowledge and insights from structured and unstructured data, and apply knowledge and actionable insights from data across a broad range of application domains. Data science is related to data mining, machine learning and big data.

Back to Top

Software Development

Software development is the process of conceiving, specifying, designing, programming, documenting, testing, and bug fixing involved in creating and maintaining applications, frameworks, or other software components. Software development is a process of writing and maintaining the source code, but in a broader sense, it includes all that is involved between the conception of the desired software through to the final manifestation of the software, sometimes in a planned and structured process. Therefore, software development may include research, new development, prototyping, modification, reuse, re-engineering, maintenance, or any other activities that result in software products.

Back to Top

Website Development

Web development is the work involved in developing a Web site for the Internet or an intranet. Web development can range from developing a simple single static page of plain text to complex web-based internet applications, electronic businesses, and social network services. A more comprehensive list of tasks to which web development commonly refers, may include web engineering, web design, web content development, client liaison, client-side/server-side scripting, web server and network security configuration, and e-commerce development.

Back to Top