There are dozens of programming languages out there, but only 5 that make the best programming languages to learn list. Picking the right language to learn as a beginner can often be tricky as there’s such a wide variety to choose from.
But worry no more! In this guide, you’ll discover what I think are the top 5 easiest programming languages for beginners to get started with.
Eclipse
Pros
- Great framework for building Java applications
- Includes plenty of debugging options
- Supports various build systems such as CMAKE
- Easy to get standard plugins from the marketplace
Cons
- It consumes a lot of RAM
- Sometimes it crashes on loading big projects
Price: Free
Platform: Linux, macOS, Windows
Eclipse is an IDE that supports an extensible plug-in system for customizing the environment. Although it is primarily used for developing Java applications, you can use it to write apps in other programming languages as well (via plug-ins).
It checks compile-time errors while writing the code. And since it provides suggestions and has a great online community to help users, you can increase your pace of coding with this tool.
Eclipse manages multiple files and projects efficiently and supports a broad range of file formats with type-specific syntax formatting. It provides connectors for multiple databases and supports common DB access methods. Moreover, project integration into GIT is virtually seamless.
Geany
Pros
- Lightweight and fast
- Comes with a built-in plugin manager
- Code completion and syntax highlighting
- Extensive file-type support
Cons
- Not as advanced as some other text editors
- Windows version doesn’t properly support 2-byte characters such as Japanese and Chinese
Price: Free
Platform: Linux, macOS, Windows
Geany is an open-source, lightweight text editor, specifically designed to have short load times with limited dependencies on external libraries or separate packages.
It supports many programming and markup languages, including C, C#, C++, PHP, HTML, CSS JavaScript, Python, Perl, Haskell, and Pascal. Other common filetypes like Diff-output, SQL files, and ini-style config files are also supported.
Unlike other code editors, you don’t have to search through numerous syntax styles just to be able to change the used font. And since it features Real Syntax Parsing (not just coloring), it can display inner classes and methods in source code.
gedit
Pros
- The UI is clean and minimal
- Customizable theme
- Multi-monitor editing and syntax highlighting
- Available on all systems that use Gnome
- Full support for internationalized text (UTF-8)
Cons
- It misses many important features, including auto-complete for several languages
Price: Free
Platform: Linux, macOS, Windows
gedit is a lightweight yet powerful general-purpose text editor of the GNOME desktop environment. As per the philosophy of the GNOME project, it has a clean and simple GUI for editing source code and structured text like markup languages.
In addition to syntax highlighting for various programming languages, it also comes with spell checking features and all other basic options like Goto line, find and replace.
The tool could run fast on low-end PCs: it uses little memory and CPU resources while reading very large logs.
Brackets
Pros
- Live preview system
- Supports drag and drop
- Supports Adobe PSD content
- Vim-style editing is already built in the text editor
- It is being actively maintained and developed
Cons
- Lacks full screen and split-screen support
- The shortcuts aren’t robust
Price: Free
Platform: Linux, macOS, Windows
Brackets is an open-source code editor developed by Adobe Systems. It primarily focuses on HTML, CSS, and JavaScript editing functionality.
The Live Preview pushes your code edits instantly to the browser to display an updated webpage as you modify the code. Another useful feature called Split-Screen enables you to easily work on CSS and actual code at the same time.
Brackets has a decent library of extensions such as prefixer that analyses your code and auto prefix CSS selectors. It is still relatively small in the text editor arena, but because of plenty of customization options and extensibility via plugins, implementing code feels effortless.
Emacs
Pros
- Content-aware editing modes
- UI is highly customizable
- Comprehensive documentation including tutorials for beginners
- Full Unicode support for almost all human scripts
Cons
- There is a bit of a learning curve at the beginning
- Shortcut key combinations seem odd
Price: Free
Platform: Linux, macOS, Windows
Emacs is a customizable and extensible text editor capable of achieving whatever the user wishes. It is packed with more than 10,000 built-in commands, which can be combined with macros to automate work.
Emacs features content-aware editing modes, full Unicode supports for almost all scripts, and the complete ecosystem of functionality beyond text editing, including news and mail reader, calendar, debugger interface, and project planner.
The tool is extensible with Lisp extensions, so you can get all new benefits of modern IDEs like syntax highlighting, code-complete, static checking, and more by installing plug-ins.
Swift
If you’re interested in Apple products and mobile app development, Swift is a good place to start. First announced by Apple in 2014, Swift is a relatively new programming language used to develop iOS and macOS applications.
Swift has been optimized for performance and built from the ground up to match the realities of modern iOS development. Not only does iOS run on every iPhone and iPad, but it’s also the basis for other operating systems such as watchOS (for Apple Watches) and tvOS (for Apple TVs). In addition, Apple isn’t going anywhere as a tech industry leader, and iOS apps continue to be the most profitable in the mobile app marketplace.
Scala
If you’re familiar with Java—a classic programming language in its own right—it’s worth checking out its modern cousin, Scala. Scala combines the best features of Java (such as its Object-Oriented Structure and its lightning-fast JVM runtime environment) with a modern twist.
As a functional programming language, Scala allows engineers to elevate the quality of their code to resemble pure math. Scala allows for concurrent programming, allowing complex procedures to be executed in parallel. Furthermore, it is a strongly typed language. Engineers can create and customize their own data types, allowing them to have the peace of mind knowing entire swaths of bugs are impossible at runtime.
Java
Java is the most popular programming languages used today.
Owned by Oracle Corporation, this general-purpose programming language with its object-oriented structure has become a standard for applications that can be used regardless of platform (e.g., Mac, Windows, Android, iOS, etc.) because of its Write Once, Run Anywhere (WORA) capabilities. As a result, Java is recognized for its portability across platforms, from mainframe data centers to smartphones. Today there are more than 3 billion devices running applications built with Java.
Java is widely used in web and application development as well as big data. Java is also used on the backend of several popular websites, including Google, Amazon, Twitter, and YouTube. It is also extensively used in hundreds of applications. New Java frameworks like Spring, Struts, and Hibernate are also very popular. With millions of Java developers worldwide, there are hundreds of ways to learn Java. Also, Java programmers have an extensive online community and support each other to solve problems.
Java is a more complex language to learn, but experienced developers with Java coding skills are in high-demand. The average Java developer earns around $79,000 each year.
| Level: | Intermediate |
| Skills Needed: | Problem-solving, knowledge of the object-oriented structure |
| Platform: | Web, Mobile, Desktop |
| Popularity Among Programmers: | One of the world’s most popular; high demand |
| Benefits: | Regarded as a good start for learning to think like a programmer and gain coding skillsYou’ll be able to access/manipulate the most important computer functions, like the file system, graphics, and sound for any fairly sophisticated and modern program that can run on any operating system. |
| Downsides: | Lots of new vocabulary to learn; a higher-level language |
| Degree of Use: | Widely used; highly applicable |
| Annual Salary Projection: | $79,000 |
Hack Reactor
Hack Reactor’s online coding bootcamp is the best around, so it’s no surprise that the company’s software engineer free prep program is also incredibly effective for learning Javascript as a beginner. Hack Reactor offers a free, online, self-guided prep course that lets you study at your own pace and work on your own time.
If you know you need more support and accountability as you learn to code, their live online premium prep course is also a good option. The premium prep course costs $250 upfront, but if you decide to enroll in the Hack Reactor online coding bootcamp and are accepted, you’ll get that amount deducted from your tuition, which makes it free in the end.
JavaScript
Along with HTML and CSS, JavaScript is essential to front-end web development. A majority of the web’s most popular sites, from Facebook and Twitter to Gmail and YouTube, rely on JavaScript to create interactive web pages and dynamically display content to users.
It’s impossible to be a software developer these days without using JavaScript in some way. According to Stack Overflow’s 2020 Developer Survey, JavaScript is the most popular language among developers for the eighth year in a row. Nearly 70 percent of survey respondents reported that they had used JavaScript in the past year.
Although JavaScript is primarily a front-end language run on the browser, it can also be used on the server-side through Node.js to build scalable network applications. Node.js is compatible with Linux, SunOS, Mac OS X, and Windows.
Because JavaScript has a forgiving, flexible syntax and works across all major browsers, it is one of the friendliest programming languages for beginners.
In the video below, learn why we chose to focus our curriculum on Javascript back in 2012 and why our founders continue to stick with the programming language for 2021 and beyond.
Conclusion
No matter if you are a complete beginner or you already know some programming languages, this site is for you. What is the best programming language to learn in 2019? This article will guide you toward the language that suits your skills.