Choosing Your First Programming Language

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Simon Mclellan

Writer, developer.

Hi, programming beginner.

There’s no simple answer to it. It all depends on what you feel you want to do. Some people think they want to develop websites, others think they want to develop mobile apps, etc. But the reality is, you will never know exactly what you want until you’ve tried a diversity of programming languages.

This article aims to recommend what programming languages you should learn first and try out as a beginner as well as the best online courses.

I am going to assume you already have some basic understanding of programming. If not, I would recommend you to read the article first, where I wrote about how to become a successful programmer with no experience or degree, at any age. This article is like a supplementary article for the first one, or you can consider it as your second step to becoming a successful programmer.

In this article, I won’t be reviewing every possible programming language, because not every programming language is a good choice for people who have just begun their programming career.

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Help me choose the programming language, please!

I know how you feel because I was in a similar situation, and to be honest, I still am! It’s so painful when you want to learn everything, but it’s just impossible to master everything. So we have to choose our niches.

Although it’s not possible to master every programming language, it’s very possible to try out the most popular ones. This is going to be just scratching the surface, but this is all you need in the beginning when you are looking for the most interesting programming language to create software with.

So, where to start learning?

I’ll give you my example: I’ve signed-up on various learning platforms that were offering a free trial. Some learning platforms offer one month trial, some two months. That’s more than enough to get started and to kind of shape your opinion about one or another programming language or technology.

I challenged myself to learn something new every day.

I was watching one or two different courses every day (I dedicated a few hours per day) for free for a couple of months. So in total, I had about 2-3 months of free and high-quality learning.

While watching these courses, I was also able to follow along and write code. I wasn’t trying to create some cool projects at that time to build my portfolio, but I was able to get quite a nice understanding of how these programming languages and technologies are used and what they are for.

Have a look at the Stack Overflow Developer Survey 2019. This graph shows the salaries per programming language, based on years of experience. Top programming languages are very rewarding, however, they are not for beginners.

Stack overflow developer survey 2019

As you can see, there are numerous programming languages available, but in this article, I will only highlight the major ones, what are they used for and how to get started with them.

Must have skills: HTML and CSS

To become a software developer, it is not enough to know just these two technologies. They are must-haves and you will be using them heavily.

These skills are your must-have skills and this is what you should be learning first. Every developer knows how to use these technologies and they are utilized by pretty much every major platform, whether it’s web, mobile or desktop.

HTML is used in combination with CSS. Every website was built using HTML and CSS, lots of desktop applications are also using HTML and CSS these days as well as mobile applications. HTML and CSS are what make your application visible to its consumer’s eyes.

You should start your programming career by learning HTML and CSS, and this is where you can start doing that!

[wpsm_video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gT0Lh1eYk78[/wpsm_video]

Skillshare: [FREE] Web Development for Beginners – Introduction to HTML

This is a free HTML for beginners course by Skillshare.

Get your free 2 months’ access here.

In this course, you will be taught by Jeremy from webdevHD, there are 1.2k+ students enrolled. What I like about this platform and the course is that students are creating projects after completing the course and sharing these projects on the Skillshare platform with other students.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.skillshare.com/classes/Web-Development-for-Beginners-Introduction-to-HTML/1742516434″ button_text=”Visit course” title=”Web Development for Beginners – Introduction to HTML” description=”In this course you will be learning HTML basics absolutely free. You will learn how to get started with HTML and understand the HTML tags. You will also learn to understand block elements and inline elements, HTML page structure and HTML attributes and more.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/skillshare-logo.png”]

Pluralsight: HTML5 Learning Path

Here are the reasons why this learning path is worth it:

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  • You will see the big picture of HTML, CSS, and Javascript. After watching this course, you will know exactly how these three technologies work with each other.
  • You will learn what’s the difference between HTML and HTML5.
  • You will learn all HTML5 markup elements, so you will be able to create your website concepts straight away.
  • You will learn how to write high quality, semantic HTML markup.
  • You will learn about reusable web components and how to use them.
  • You will be able to implement real-time communication using Javascript APIs.
  • Native APIs for rich media, realtime effects and communication
  • Speed up the user experience for online and offline applications
  • Storage APIs and web sockets

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HTML5 Learning Path includes 9 courses and over 27 hours of learning videos.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://app.pluralsight.com/paths/skill/html5″ button_text=”Visit course” title=”HTML5 Learning Path” description=”HTML5 is the newest version of the default file format for web documents. It adds new form elements, audio/video support, a drawing canvas, real-time communication, local storage, drag and drop, and more. Whether you’re writing static pages or dynamically generating HTML, you’ll need to know and understand HTML5. This learning path includes proven HTML5 tutorials that will get you there.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/pluralsight1.png” ]

Pluralsight: CSS3 Learning Path

Here are the reasons why this learning path is worth it:

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  • There’s no CSS without HTML. You will be introduced to CSS and how to define styles using CSS.
  • You will also get a deep look into CSS positioning, which is heavily used in CSS.
  • You will learn LESS. The technology created for CSS. It makes CSS almost a programming language! This is a must-have skill in modern web development.
  • You will learn how to use Bootstrap, which is the most popular CSS framework.
  • Apart from all that, you will learn CSS3 topics such as selectors, generated content, media queries, shadows, text-effects, transitions, animations and much more.

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CSS3 Learning Path includes 6 courses and over 11 hours of learning videos.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://app.pluralsight.com/paths/skill/css” button_text=”Visit course” title=”CSS3 Learning Path” description=”Understanding CSS is a fundamental skill for the modern web developer, whether you’re creating static pages from scratch, generating dynamic pages with a framework or designing a blog theme. This learning path will take you from the basics of CSS to a live coding session that explains the mixing of HTML, CSS and JavaScript.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/pluralsight1.png” ]

Udemy: Build Responsive Real World Websites with HTML5 and CSS3 + Certification

Rating: 4.6 (30,248 ratings)

This course is number one on the Udemy platform in the HTML and CSS subject with over 142k students enrolled. In this course, you will be taught by Jonas Schmedtmann, who is one of Udemy’s TOP instructors. He has a Master’s degree in Engineering and has been building websites since 2007. Jonas is not only a talented full-stack web developer but also is an expert in teaching other people.

To enroll in this course, you don’t need to have any coding or design experience. There are no specific requirements for your hardware, it will do any computer – whether it’s old or new, no matter what operating system you are using.

You will be using this course as your HTML and CSS coding bible as it includes:

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  • 12 hours on-demand video
  • 11 articles
  • 9 downloadable resources
  • Full lifetime access
  • Access on mobile and TV
  • Certificate of Completion

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[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.udemy.com/course/design-and-develop-a-killer-website-with-html5-and-css3/” button_text=”Visit course” title=”Build Responsive Real World Websites with HTML5 and CSS3 + Certification” description=”This is an excellent well designed, slowly-moving course. It will give you more than enough knowledge in HTML and CSS, so you will be confident in building websites for yourself or your clients. Alongside the theory, you will be building a KILLER project website, ensuring you are getting a proper experience.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/udemy.png” ]

Udemy: Learn HTML5 Programming From Scratch + Certification

Rating: 4.4 (13,339 ratings)

I wouldn’t skip this HTML5 focused course, because it will strengthen your HTML5 knowledge. It’s probably the best value you can get for this cheap price. Don’t get me wrong, if it’s cheap, doesn’t mean it’s bad. Its focus is solely on HTML5.

In this course, you will be taught by an organization called Eduonix, which creates and distributes a lot of high-quality courses. Eduonix has been in the business for over a decade now and is a trusted organization worldwide.

You will be learning from core concepts, such as: professional and valid HTML markup, text formatting, lists and tables, forms and inputs, div tags and some CSS, to the advanced HTML5 concepts, such as: new elements and input types, CANVAS and SVG features, Audio and Video, Geolocation, Web Storage / Local Storage, Application Caching and Mobile Development principles.

This course includes:

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  • 10.5 hours on-demand video
  • 5 articles
  • 26 downloadable resources
  • Full lifetime access
  • Access on mobile and TV
  • Certificate of Completion

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[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.udemy.com/course/learn-html5-programming-from-scratch/” button_text=”Visit course” title=”Learn HTML5 Programming From Scratch + Certification” description=”You will enjoy this course if you are new to programming. In this course you will taught from scratch, explaining all the little details, so you won’t feel lost. You will be provided with plenty of examples with detailed explanations. After watching this course, you will be able to tailor and apply the knowledge to your own needs.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/udemy.png” ]

Other recommended FREE courses on HTML and CSS + Certifications

Pluralsight is a subscription-based website and if you decide it’s not for you, or not at this moment, you can go for the previously recommended courses on Udemy in combination with the courses on the LinkedIn Learning platform, where you will be able to learn for FREE for one month. You will be asked for your card information when you’re signing-up, but before the trial ends, just cancel your subscription if you don’t want to stay on the platform and you won’t be charged a single penny.

Courses I am talking about are these:

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.linkedin.com/learning/html-essential-training/welcome” button_text=”Visit course” title=”HTML Essential Training” description=”This basic HTML course is delivered by James Williamson. In this course, you will be exploring an HTML document, learning how to format the content, display images, how to use HTML elements, such as navigational, article and div elements. You will be learning how to link to pages and downloadable content, creating lists and how to control styling items, such as fonts, colors and more. Apart from all that, you will be introduced to writing basic scripts.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LI-learning-logo.jpg”]

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.linkedin.com/learning/html5-structure-syntax-and-semantics/welcome” button_text=”Visit course” title=”HTML5: Structure, Syntax, and Semantics” description=”This course is also delivered by James Williamson. This time, you will be getting deeper into HTML5 structure, syntax and semantics. It’s important to know how to create well structured and semantic HTML documents as this will have an impact on how it appears not only in the browser, but in the Google search results. Most importantly, you need to ensure great experience for your website’s visitors.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LI-learning-logo.jpg”]

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.linkedin.com/learning/css-essential-training-3/” button_text=”Visit course” title=”CSS Essential Training” description=”This CSS course is delivered by Christina Truong, who is a web developer and an educator. In this course, you will get an essential CSS skills, such as: writing basic selectors, setting properties, what is cascade and inheritance in CSS, how to set fonts, colors. By the end of the course, you will have a decent knowledge about CSS, its selectors and layouts.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LI-learning-logo.jpg”]

Now, the following courses are a sequence of 3 courses and you should be watching them in the same order.

P.S. it doesn’t matter that these courses were created in 2017, nothing has changed in terms of the CSS foundations.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.linkedin.com/learning/css-essential-training-1-2017/welcome” button_text=”Visit course” title=”CSS Essential Training 1 (2017)” description=”In this course you will learn how to create a CSS file, how you can write the very basic selectors and properties. You will taught how you can use different typefaces and web-safe fonts, understanding the cascading and inheritance. Also, you will understand what is the box model and how to use the float property.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LI-learning-logo.jpg”]

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.linkedin.com/learning/css-essential-training-2-2017/welcome” button_text=”Visit course” title=”CSS Essential Training 2 (2017)” description=”In this 2nd part course, you will be reviewing CSS syntax, simple selectors and attribute selectors. You will know how to use pseudo-class selectors and pseudo-element selectors. You will be reviewing the CSS box model and adding your first menu to the your project. You will be able to confidently use float, display and position properties. You will know how to debug CSS and how to reset stylesheets. You will be working with background images, exploring responsive web design and creating flexible and fluid layouts.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LI-learning-logo.jpg”]

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.linkedin.com/learning/css-essential-training-3-2017/welcome” button_text=”Visit course” title=”CSS Essential Training 3 (2017)” description=”In this last part course, you will be designing with a grid, working with the flexbox. You will also be utilizing animation and shapes, CSS keyframes, CSS functions. Learning about responsive typography, fluid typography. You will get familiar with the style guides for CSS.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LI-learning-logo.jpg”]

Conclusion about HTML and CSS

Having HTML and CSS knowledge is crucial for pretty much every software developer, however, it is not enough to become one, unless your applications won’t require a nice user interface. HTML and CSS are how you usually give your applications a body.

Some applications, however, don’t need any user interface, for example, if these applications are just a piece of logic that runs as part of some bigger applications. This is usually called a backend development.

Some applications have a command-line interface, meaning, those applications will be running from a command line (Linux/macOS terminals or Windows DoS/Powershell). These basic interfaces do not use HTML, not CSS.

All other cases, like desktop applications, mobile applications or web applications, they are all using HTML and CSS. Most likely, you will fall into one of these groups, so you need to know HTML and CSS very well.

C# – .NET programming language

You may ask – why choose C# and .NET? There are many reasons for that.

Is C# pronounced as ‘C hashtag’? No, it’s pronounced as ‘Csharp’.

It used to be that the C# was only running on the Windows platform, meaning the hosting will be expensive. These would be the two main reasons why people refused learning C# as their main/first programming language.

Here’s good news! You can run .NET on any platform you want – Linux/macOS/Windows – you name it. Thanks for the .NET Core team for making this possible. I am developing my .NET projects on macOS and running them on Linux servers.

Another thing about the C# (.NET) is that this language is elegant, beautiful and very expressive, while being very easy to learn, so any beginner can pick it up quickly.

Once you get a good understanding of C# and .NET, you will be able to choose what type of .NET developer you want to become: C# backend developer, web developer (ASP.NET / ASP.NET Core), mobile developer (Xamarin) or desktop developer (WPF / UWP), games (Unity) or console applications developer.

As you may already know, in .NET, there are a couple of supported languages that share the same .NET runtime. These languages are Visual Basic, C#, and F#. I would encourage you not to have any interest in the Visual Basic as this is a dying programming language.

Companies that still have some systems written in Visual Basic, are usually looking forward to migrating to a modern language like C#.

[wpsm_video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eIHKZfgddLM[/wpsm_video]

Depending on your desires and wishes, if you are looking to learn .NET and C#, then Pluralsight is your main learning platform, hands down.

Pluralsight excels in .NET, C#, Microsoft Azure, Javascript, computer networking and many more areas.

Speaking of C#, there are many courses on the platform, but the one that you should be taking right away as a beginner, is this:

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://app.pluralsight.com/library/courses/csharp-fundamentals-dev” button_text=”Visit course” title=”C# Fundamentals” description=”This course is delivered by Scott Allen, who is one of the TOP authors on Pluralsight and has an extensive experience in development. This course is rated 5/5 stars and its duration is 6 hours and 5 minutes, during which, you will learn the basics of .NET and C# as well as the syntax of C# language. You will be also introduced to the concepts of the object oriented programming language, types, flow of execution and much more.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/pluralsight1.png” ]

or, if you are decisive enough about learning .NET and C#, you can go through the C# Learning Path and get a fully-fledged knowledge in C# in the most efficient way. Take your time to check out this learning path to see what courses it consists of.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://app.pluralsight.com/paths/skills/csharp” button_text=”Visit course” title=”C# Learning Path” description=”This learning path is delivered by many instructors, who are world-wide renowned and experts in their areas. This learning path will cover almost everything you need know to become a professional .NET developer.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/pluralsight1.png” ]

Udemy: C# Basics for Beginners: Learn C# Fundamentals by Coding + Certification

Rating: 4.5 (28,125 ratings)

Pluralsight is a paradise for .NET developers, however, as an alternative to Pluralsight, you can also take courses on Udemy. The following courses will be the best courses you can get on Udemy covering the C# subject.

I like to watch a series of courses when they come from the same instructor, so it makes it easier to understand the material. These courses are created by Mosh Hamedani, who is a wonderful teacher, with more than two decades of experience in software development.

Just imagine what can people like him bring to the table for us learners.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.udemy.com/course/csharp-tutorial-for-beginners/” button_text=”Visit course” title=”C# Basics for Beginners: Learn C# Fundamentals by Coding + Certification” description=”In this C# basics course you will gain an understanding of the .NET Framework. You will also learn all the basics, such as primitive types and exceptions, non-primitive types, control flow, collections, you will be working with dates, text, files. In the end of the course you will be learning how to debug applications.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/udemy.png” ]

Udemy: C# Intermediate: Classes, Interfaces and OOP + Certification

Rating: 4.5 (14,994 ratings)

Once you have a basic understanding of C#, you need to progress further. C# is an object-oriented programming language and as a C# developer, you must understand C# classes, abstract classes, interfaces and terms like encapsulation, inheritance, and polymorphism is something you will be in love with. You have to understand these things and master them if you want to become a professional .NET developer.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.udemy.com/course/csharp-intermediate-classes-interfaces-and-oop/” button_text=”Visit course” title=”C# Intermediate: Classes, Interfaces and OOP + Certification” description=”In this next course, you will learn about the classes, which is a fundamental thing in the object oriented programming world. Also you will understand inheritance, which is a second pillar of the OOP, then polymorphism – a third pillar of OOP and finally – interfaces, which is also essential to know.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/udemy.png” ]

LinkedIn Learning: [FREE] Become a C# Developer + Certification + Badges

This is a great way to become a C# developer for free, using the LinkedIn Learning free trial. You will get 1 month for free, during which, you will complete this learning path to become a C# developer.

In this learning path, you will get all the information you need to become a C# developer. Even better, there’s a course included in this learning path for nailing your C# developer interview. I know it sounds unrealistic to think that you will get a C# developer job after watching this course, but after watching this course you will know what’s what and how you can learn and progress further. Moreover, you will know what to expect in the job interviews.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.linkedin.com/learning/paths/become-a-c-developer” button_text=”Visit course” title=”Become a C# Developer” description=”In this course, you will learn everything from programming foundations to object oriented design, from the C# syntax to the basic C# logic development, using flow controls, arrays and exception handling, from C# algorithms to code design patterns. And finally, you will get a taste of what it’s like to be in the job interview for C# developer position.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LI-learning-logo.jpg”]

This would wrap-up the suggested courses for learning C# (.NET). There are plenty more courses on plenty of more learning platforms, but I have recommended just the best courses for learning C#.

PHP programming language

Good news for you! PHP is a piece of cake when it comes to choosing your first programming language. I have started with PHP, millions of other developers also started with PHP, so you can too!

PHP is one of the easiest programming languages to get a good grasp on to become a successful, well-paid software engineer. PHP is used in millions or billions of websites, hundreds if not thousands of well-known CMS systems were written in PHP. There’s no limit to what you can achieve when using this programming language.

[wpsm_video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oUXcTz1eEA[/wpsm_video]

Once you know PHP, you will be able to learn the most popular PHP frameworks like Laravel and Symfony. There are lots of other popular frameworks too, for example, CakePHP or Codeigniter.

Just look at the job boards searching for the ‘php’ keyword. You will get an understanding of what I am talking about!

There are thousands of PHP courses available, so there are a lot of crap courses created too. In this section, I will recommend only the best PHP courses on various online learning platforms.

Udemy: PHP for Beginners – Become a PHP Master – CMS Project + Certification

Rating: 4.4 (13,857 ratings)

Believe it or not, this PHP course on Udemy has everything you will need to become a PHP developer. Not an expert, but still a developer who is capable of making websites using PHP programming language.

Edwin Diaz, your instructor, will take you from ground zero to almost a hero in PHP in a very short time. There were over 70k students who relied on this instructor and I am no surprised why.

If you have a look at the table of contents, you will see that the instructor knows the subject. He will teach you in small steps, explaining every detail, in the right order, so you will pick up all the essential information you can think of easily.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.udemy.com/course/php-for-complete-beginners-includes-msql-object-oriented/” button_text=”Visit course” title=”PHP for Beginners – Become a PHP Master – CMS Project” description=”In this course you will learn AND build your own content management system like WordPress! This course will not only teach you the PHP basics, but you will get a good grasp on MySQL databases, email sending, AJAX calls, password hashing, how to use the PHP package manager called Composer. You will also learn how to debug your PHP applications as well as security bits. I wish this course existed when I started my software career!” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/udemy.png” ]

If you prefer to start learning this language for free, then I’d suggest you look at LinkedIn Learning instead as it gives you a free month. If you won’t be fast enough to go through every course on the platform, then you will need to buy a subscription, which is not too expensive, to be honest, and really worth your money.

When I looked at the LinkedIn Learning platform for PHP courses, I was surprised by how many high-quality courses on the topic there are! I will pick up some really good Learning Paths for you you can rely on to become a PHP developer.

LinkedIn Learning: [FREE] Become a PHP Developer + Certification + Badges

Ok, this one is serious, it contains 45 hours of content.

What I like about this course, that it also starts with the content for pre-beginners. In other words, it starts with the content that will be understood by people who don’t have any previous programming experience. That’s about programming algorithms. You will be then learning PHP related things, from PHP essentials all the way to installing and using MySQL database systems, building your own content management system as a hands-on project, learning Git and GitHub, learning OOP programming with PHP, MVC design principles, testing and securing applications, and so much much more!

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.linkedin.com/learning/paths/php-developer” button_text=”Visit course” title=”Become a PHP Developer” description=”This course is delivered by multiple PHP experts. You will start by learning programming foundations – Algorithms. Then you will be walked through the PHP essentials to understand the PHP language principles. You will also be learning how to utilize MySQL databases in your applications. As a good practice, you will be creating your own content management system, learning OOP, MVC, Git and GitHub, testing and securing applications.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LI-learning-logo.jpg”]

LinkedIn Learning: Other recommended courses towards becoming PHP developer

If you decide to get the LinkedIn Learning subscription (which is something I’d recommend doing) to become a professional PHP developer, then you should also be taking a couple more courses.

Beware, they are not for beginners, before taking them, you should be familiar with PHP quite well. Anyway, here are these goodnesses.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.linkedin.com/learning/paths/advance-your-skills-as-a-php-developer-core-php” button_text=”Visit course” title=”Advance your Skills as a PHP Developer: Core PHP” description=”In this learning path, you will be gaining more knowledge in PHP and this is a learning path for people who already have good knowledge in PHP. In this course, you will be learning the Standard PHP Library (SPL), learning how to export data to files, resize and watermark images, sending emails and how you can create clean URLs on Apache HTTP server.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LI-learning-logo.jpg”]

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.linkedin.com/learning/paths/get-ahead-in-php-7-features-and-frameworks” button_text=”Visit course” title=”Get Ahead in PHP: PHP 7 Features and Frameworks” description=”This course should be taken by people who already have some knowledge in PHP. PHP developers, just like any other developers, need to keep their skills up to date and this is what this learning path is all about. You will be learning PHP 7 features as well as the most popular MVC frameworks: Laravel 5, Zend Framework 3, Codeigniter 3 and CakePHP. You will also catch up on the latest developments and design patterns.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LI-learning-logo.jpg”]

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.linkedin.com/learning/paths/advance-your-skills-as-php-developer-working-with-data” button_text=”Visit course” title=”Advance your Skills as a PHP Developer: Working with Data” description=”This learning path is a MUST. You are not even a developer without this knowledge. You will be gaining knowledge in some of the most important areas in programming, that is, how to consume RESTful APIs, how do you access databases with PDO and MySQLi, how to manage persistent sessions and how you can add dynamic content to websites using AJAX calls.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/10/LI-learning-logo.jpg”]

If you smash these learning paths, you want it or not – you will become a professional PHP developer. Choose these learning paths if you want to become a PHP developer. I mean, why not, more than 50% of the internet is built using PHP.

Javascript programming language

I have to admit, when I started my programming career, I didn’t think that Javascript will become such a big thing. At that time, Javascript wasn’t used for the backend development, it was supposed to be executed in clients’ browsers and that’s it.

[wpsm_video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nItSSTwBvSU[/wpsm_video]

Javascript helps to make interactive websites and greatly improves user experience. Not only that, but Javascript is also used for backend development too. With Javascript, you can create web applications, desktop applications, mobile applications as well as backend services.

These days, Javascript is one of the most popular programming languages and has a vast, everyday growing community.

Javascript is a must-know programming language for every developer.

There are a few main big players in the world of Javascript today: Angular, React, Node.js, Vue. If you are thinking to learn Javascript as your main programming language, you probably already know what are those mentioned frameworks/libraries so I won’t be discussing them here in this article. I also won’t be giving course recommendations on these technologies as this could be a whole separate book, so I will leave that for other articles.

In this article, I will be focusing on providing you with the recommended courses to learn the pure Javascript, which is a basis of the aforementioned frameworks/libraries.

Udemy: The Complete JavaScript Course 2019: Build Real Projects! + Certification

Rating: 4.6 (54,753 ratings)

We’ll start with Udemy. In this case, I’ve only picked a single course on Udemy that will transform you from being a total beginner to an advanced Javascript developer.

It all depends on you, but this course provides everything you need to learn the Javascript to an advanced level. I mean it.

When I started looking at the table of contents, it gives you more than you most likely need.

One time investment to kick start your career.

By the way, this course was delivered by the same guy who did the HTML and CSS courses. This course has 234,612 students enrolled – that’s MAD!

Let’s analyze the table of contents a bit to prove to you that you’re looking at the right course.

Look through the Javascript language basics module. That module alone has covered the basics you need in great detail – 30 lectures.

Then you will be looking to understand how Javascript works behind the scenes. Show me some other course that goes into these details. After that, DOM manipulation stuff, objects, and functions. That’s it! This is all you need as a beginner.

But look further now, it goes into more and more advanced levels. It even has over 7 hours explaining ES6, NPM, Babel, and WebPack. THAT IS CRAZY. This should be a whole separate course for each of these, but hey! It has been put into a single course for you.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.udemy.com/course/the-complete-javascript-course/” button_text=”Visit course” title=”The Complete JavaScript Course 2019: Build Real Projects!” description=”What can I say, one course to rule them all. Delivered by Jonas Schmedtmann, more than 234,6k students enrolled with the rating of 4,6 (55k ratings in total). 28 hours of high quality content, covering Javascript programming essentials, such as variables, conditionals, loops, functions, arrays and many more. Progresses with asynchronous programming, AJAX calls, promises, ES6, NPM, WebPack and so much more.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/udemy.png” ]

Pluralsight: Javascript Learning Path

Now, Pluralsight is great for learning Javascript, it has a lot of courses available for you to grab and learn from. To be honest, it feels that this whole learning path is a bit weaker than a single course on Udemy from Jonas.

Here’s the thing. I encourage you to leverage the fact that you will be mastering Javascript anyway after completing the learning path on Pluralsight, plus you will have access to other Javascript courses that were not included in the learning path. Plus! You will have access to thousands of other courses, including Node.js, Angular, React, Databases – anything you can think of.

Pluralsight is a subscription-based platform, so spending the amount for a subscription per year will cost you a lot less than buying a single course from Udemy. Pluralsight courses are of great quality too, don’t doubt about it.

Now, this learning path has in mind 3 levels of programmers: beginners, intermediates and advanced Javascript coders, summing up to 21 hours of content.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://app.pluralsight.com/paths/skill/html5″ button_text=”Visit course” title=”Javascript Learning Path” description=”This learning path was not created by a single expert, it was created by multiple Javascript experts. You will start learning Javascript by getting familiar with the big picture of HTML, CSS and Javascript. With the next courses, you will be learning fundamentals of Javascript, then progressing with Javascript objects and Prototypes, learning design practical design patterns, best practices, advanced techniques and ES6! That’s what you need to become a Javascript developer, no less no more.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/pluralsight1.png” ]

Java programming language

Some people tend to confuse Java programming language with Javascript. They are two different programming languages and they are not even similar.

Java is very popular and is used for many purposes: web development, desktop development, mobile development (Android) and backend services.

Big Data engineers are also using Java as their main language to deliver Big Data solutions and to manipulate data.

Often, universities choose to teach students programming using Java as their first programming language. In my opinion, Java is not the easiest language to start with, I’d rather first learn PHP and then switch to Java or C#.

By the way, if you know Java, you will easily learn C# as well as these two are very similar programming languages.

I like the fact that Java runs on billions of devices and has a vast community world-wide. Although I can write code in both Java and C#, I am missing expressiveness of C# when I write Java code. Anyway, you should try out this language yourself and decide whether you want to progress further with it. Java developers are paid well.

[wpsm_video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xa3Y4xz8_s[/wpsm_video]

Pluralsight: Java Learning Path

Pluralsight is excellent at teaching Java. It has a learning path with more than 43 hours of content. There are 3 more Java related learning paths, but for now, I will only highlight the one which supposed to be taken by beginners.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://app.pluralsight.com/paths/skill/java” button_text=”Visit course” title=”Java Learning Path” description=”This learning path will give you 3 levels of learning: beginner, intermediate and advanced. With the beginner level, you will start learning the basics and the core platform that the Java runs on. Wth intermediate level, you will start learning more Java-savvy things like connecting to database, multi-threading and Java web fundamentals. With advanced level courses, you will learn how to test applications and test-driven development practices in Java.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/pluralsight1.png” ]

Udemy: Java Programming Masterclass for Software Developers + Certification

Rating: 4.6 (87,795 ratings)

As another option for learning Java, you can buy a course on Udemy. This course has over 370k students enrolled and contains of around 79 hours of content.

What I like about this course is that it contains 36 coding exercises, which will help you to demonstrate your Java knowledge to your future employers.

This course is delivered by:

Tim Buchalka. His video courses are used to train developers in major companies such as Mercedes-Benz, Paypal, VW, Pitney Bowes, IBM and T-Mobile just to name a few.

Goran Lochert. Fully certified Java Developer and have a lot of experience with Java, JPA, Java Enterprise Edition, Spring, Spring Boot, Maven, Gradle, and JavaFX.

These guys have a vast development experience.

You will get the foundations first, knowledge about the latest and greatest Java features, then moving further by learning database connectivity, testing and even networking bits.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.udemy.com/course/java-the-complete-java-developer-course/” button_text=”Visit course” title=”Java Programming Masterclass for Software Developers” description=”This course will teach literally make you a Java developer. After analysing the table of contents, I wasn’t able to identify what’s not taught in this course. You will start by learning about variables, conditional statements, control flows, object oriented programming, class and interfaces. Then Java Generics, naming conventions (!), all the latest and greatest Java features, debugging and testing, even networking bits are covered!” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/udemy.png” ]

Coursera: [FREE] Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamentals Specialization + Certification

The specialization has been delivered by Duke University and has around 70k students enrolled.

This specialization is mentioned as a last recommended course in the Java programming language courses’ list, but is far from being the last course you should enroll in. Probably, this is the best place for you to start learning Java.

This a specialization, not a course, and this term is used by Coursera, meaning it includes several courses, in this case – 5 courses. This will help you to become a Java developer.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.coursera.org/specializations/java-programming” button_text=”Visit course” title=”Java Programming and Software Engineering Fundamentals Specialization” description=”In this specialization you will be learning programming foundations with Javascript, HTML and CSS. In the 2nd part of the specialization, you will be learning to solve problems using Java. In the 3rd part, you will be learning arrays, lists and structured data. 4th part will take you through the principles of software design. As cherry on a cake, in the 5th part, you will be building a recommendation system.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/coursera-logo.png” ]

Python programming language

Python is a great programming language and is used for a lot of scenarios, such as: web development, scripting, and backend development. It’s very easy to learn and use, so people are often using python for solving some tasks quickly. Analyze data sets, extract information from other websites, creating RESTful APIs, Machine Learning, Data Science, and there are many more use cases.

Python is especially great for Big Data developers, where they run python scripts on distributed Big Data (Hadoop) servers to analyze the data.

[wpsm_video]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kLZuut1fYzQ[/wpsm_video]

Coursera is the best place to start with python.

Coursera: [FREE] Python for Everybody Specialization + Certification

This specialization is delivered by a University of Michigan and is the most popular course for python on the Internet.

In this specialization you will understand the basics of computer programming using python as a programming language.

[wpsm_offerbox button_link=”https://www.coursera.org/specializations/python” button_text=”Visit course” title=”Python for Everybody Specialization” description=”In the first part, you will be learning the fundamentals of Python. In the second part of the specialization, you will be learning Python data structures. In the 3rd part, you will be learning how to access Web Data, which means you will be learning how to extract the data from the web sites. Lastly, you will learning how to use databases with Python.” thumb=”https://iqunlock.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/coursera-logo.png” ]

Conclusion

Here you have it, I’ve described the main programming languages in high-level. By now, you should have an understanding what they are used for and where do you need to start learning them.

This is not a full list of the courses you can find on the Internet, but I’ve done the research on the major online learning platforms and picked TOP best courses for you to start with.

I haven’t tried every programming language in the world, but I have tried the ones I’ve described in this article, and I know them quite well. I recommend you to know them as well.

As a developer, you should be familiar with the main programming languages, but ultimately, you should pick the one that you like the most and make it as your main programming language.

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