you wanna elaborate?

If it came down to Java and C++, I'd say Java. I don't know Python so can't help you there. HTML isn't exactly a programming language.

C++, Python and Java are all fine. Try to find out more about the courses: which one has the best lecturer, what basic programming concepts are taught, and what else to past students have to say?

Oh forget HTML. Otherwise, pick it based on the best prof.

ok, thanks guys.

Take whichever one is more of a computer science class (i.e. learning how to program) than a language class (i.e. learning how to use a particular language and its ins and outs). You will learn more that way than if you learn how to do specific things without the basic concepts. Most programming languages are pretty similar, and once you learn how to write code, you can shift to another language without a lot of difficulty.

They are all the same turing machine right? :P (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turing_machine)
But seriously: Python has awesome syntax and is nice to script with (if you want to get going with writing some simple stuff)
But yea, mostly what nola said: get the basics!

A better teacher to give you the basics of programming is the most important. If you don't understand the concepts of how you're supposed to go about it, with the most efficiency, then the language is irrelevant because you'll be a crappy programmer.

C++ is a little aged, but you could use it as a foundation for something like C#, a newer more powerful language. They still use C++ a lot, but it's starting to get phased out, and probably will be by the time you're done.

Java's behind the times too, but I think it would provide the best foundation.

Python's BA if you know how to use it, but it's a scripting language. Very compilable, it just takes more skill than most to use really well imo.

C++ is definitely the most pure language, so I'd pick that if you seriously want to program for a living or something, as I said, it's still used pretty widely for high-end graphics. Python's more for apps and such, and Java is getting a little too slow for anything serious, and you won't learn memory management.

Java.

C++ is about 30 years old, that tells a lot

"Java.

C++ is about 30 years old, that tells a lot "

Yeah but hardly anyone uses Java, C++ is in my copy of Borderlands right now. Java's older in terms of being obselete

jman777, are you trying to become a programmer, or just get a little exposure to programming?

I would recommend python for the following reasons.
- it's simpler to do simple things, so you'll see results faster. this is a positive feedback loop, and if you're like most people, that's encouraging.
- it's a scripting language, and not a compiled language. that means that you don't have to turn your written code into machine code before you can test it. that again makes it easier to test and change things more quickly.
- python is more used for web programming, if you're interested in web.

java is probably the most available jobs, if that's what you're looking for.

HTML you can just pick up and learn from a book pretty easily. check out w3schools.com

I personally, being a python programmer myself, would recommend python. It's the easiest to pick up if you have no programming experience, and is very fast. <Google uses python!>

C++ is more powerful..umm...don't know much else apart from that <I just started learning it>

Java is definitely good if you want to make money off of it (jobs or app creation)

HTML is good for websites.

Can't speak much for java/html though, so I could be completely wrong on those parts. =S

That's not really true. Most programming jobs are related to Java and only a few to C++ at least in my country, but it's probably world-wide since we outsource a lot

Oh, and google probably uses all of the above plus many more programming languages :-D

I just plan on getting a general knowledge of programming, I don't want to go to hardcore and I probably won't be trying to make money with it, though if I like it I might decide to pick up java and do some freelance stuff.

I'm a software developer by trade, who has worked with all these languages for years. You want python if you are looking to just fiddle around.

Java is bloated and awful, and will teach you bad practices. C++ is complex and involves lots of arbitrary rules, and memory management. C# would also be a decent starting language.

HTML is not a programming language.

They're all decent languages, none of them are really obsolete, as others have said it depends entirely on what you want to do

For a first language out of those I would go for Java. A lot of its syntax and the way you structure code with it is the same as with C++, but it's more forgiving. It's also very similar to C# which is an important language, and you can run Java on the C# virtual machine and Python on the Java virtual machine so you knowledge will be transferable to other places

The downside is that it is fading out slowly. Really C# on .NET is also similar to C++ and .NET can run Python, so if C# was a choice I'd go for that instead, but as long as you focus on the language and not the specific APIs it shouldn't make much difference

But if you're doing it to do something that Python or C++ specifically are particularly good at it'd be a bad idea to learn Java first


I also think JavaScript is going to become a very important language going forward, and it is quite different in how you structure code in it, so these days it'd be a mistake to not get a feel for JavaScript while your mind is still pliable and open to different models

C# is awesome, it is far more intuitive and cohesive than C++, and Visual C# is a fairly decent compiler.

I agree with kestasjk also that Java is a good starting language, most Canadian universities will start you off with Java, can't speak for other countries. I started with C++ in high school and looking back Java would have been much nicer to begin with, C++ is a bloated and inconsistent language with wierd exceptions for features you will never use...

So as a beginner, if I was starting over I would go either:
Java or C# both are great

Actually nola2172 had the best advice, learning how to learn a programming language is the best route... take the CompSci course rather than a language course.

Java is really awful though. I'm surprised at how much support it's getting. Python is easy to learn, fast, and does everything Java can (more or less). You can write games in Python, you can develop for the web in python, hell, I wrote a python program to send me text messages when I have a new diplo message here.

Admittedly I have never worked with Python, I know is Java, C++, C#, Objective-C, Lisp and Nu (which is cheating because Nu and Lisp are so similar). Out of those I would rank C# as the easiest and most powerful for beginners, but I think Lisp is the coolest.

or Brainf*ck if you want hehe brainf*ck is hilarious.

also the * represents a u obviously, I guess there was no point in writing *

Well, I don´t know why someone say Java is aged, as you see a lot of development and evolution going on on Java, and big companies like Oracle are pushing Java and Java related technologies.
C++ is good but old and far more complex to start with, if it was C# I will go for that, but between C++ and Java, go for Java.
Python is a scripting language, very powerful, but not a good point to start with in my opinion as you won´t have the basics of a regular language.

We only use C# for the front end user interface side of our systems. It's very good for that sort of thing. Under the hood though, all our real code is either in C++ or C, with a small amount of assembler, where we really need the speed.

So, go for C++, C# will teach you the basics of Object Orientated programming, but you will want to take the training wheels off by moving over to a truly powerful language like C++. Once you do that you'll realise C# mollycoddled you, protecting you from your own mistakes and that it taught you some bad habits (also, C# isn't one of the courses on offer).

You're still using C++ since your system is 20 or so years old , nothing new is written in C++ though

I'm a Java Architect by trade, have developer direct reports, and am the primary technical interviewer for my firm.

I will basically echo Kestas' suggestions. Python is great for playing around. C++ is pure, more complicated and may be harder to pick up as a first language, Java (is not bloat, and I can prove that Pfhreak2) gives you the language, learning OO principles, and is easier syntax to learn.

So I'd take either Java or Python.

And HTML isn't a programming language. Anyone that puts "HRML" in the "Programming Languages" portion of their resume, it's auto-throw-away for me...

Ive taken both java and C++ and i can tell you that the platforms are basically identical. the others you listed arent as versitile but java and C++ are meant to be used in a large variety of forms from scanner programming, ATM machines, x-rays, computers, etc and the coding allows them to be easily transferred from one system to another with very little work done in changing things.

its a lot of work understanding things but if you learn one language then its very easy to learn another since the concepts are identical and all you have to do is learn the command words.

Tru Ninja: C++ is more powerful, but much more complex. For a first language, I learned C++, then I learned a variety of other languages (perl, python, .NET languages, lisp, etc..), then I learned Java. Once I learned Java, I knew how to write better C++, because it was an easy way to learn some important OO concepts without getting caught up in the syntax.

So I still recommend Java over C++.

Pfhreak2:
You keep saying Java is bloat, it's awful, and it makes you write badly. When I've been and taught at a variety of conferences, I've found that most Java architects had a better concept at complex design issues than C++. Again, I say this is mostly due to Java not needing to worry about syntactic sugar that C++ has (and C++ allows for bad design like multiple inheritance, where it is a compiler error in Java).
So, please, I'd like to know your reasoning (specifically) for your hatred of Java.