Debate: Should beginners start with Python or JavaScript for their first language?

I learned Python first and it made loops and logic click instantly, but my friend started with JS and says building websites kept them motivated way longer than my boring console games so which approach actually teaches coding better for a total newbie?

3 comments

3 Comments

miles_garcia1d ago

dude get out of my head. python almost made me quit because i spent two hours trying to figure out why my variable was being weird and it turned out i had a space in the wrong spot. my brother did javascript and made a calculator that also told you your fortune within an afternoon. that's not even fair. but now he can't write a function without copy pasting from stack overflow so i guess i won in the end. barely.

the_richard1d ago

oh man i feel this in my soul. i started with python and my first project was a text adventure where you could go north or south and that was it. my friend started with javascript and within a week they had a website that made fart noises when you clicked a button. i was jealous honestly. but then i tried helping them debug a for loop and they looked at me like i was speaking ancient greek. so i think python wins for actually learning the concepts without the browser getting in the way, but js wins for keeping you from quitting on day three. depends if you're the type who needs to see something cool fast or you're okay with feeling like a wizard who only knows one spell for a while.

craig.john1d ago

Read somewhere that Python teaches you the logic and JS teaches you to ship fast, both valid starts.