What is a Programming Language?
Programming Languages are human-readable languages that can easily be translated into binary (computer-readable language; 0s and 1s). Here are a few characteristics of programming languages:
- Non-ambiguous. Every keyword in a programming language matches specifically to exactly one string of binary digits. There are no double meanings.
- Four functions of a computer: Input, Output, Storage, and Processing are all capabilities of a programming language.
Pick a Language
Why are there different programming languages? Which one should I choose?
Like the codecademy video above mentioned, each programming language can be thought of as a different tool (hammer, saw, etc.). Some tools are better at certain tasks than others. Here is a table of a few programming languages and what they are primarily used for.
| Language | Popular Uses |
|---|---|
| JavaScript | Web and Mobile Apps |
| Python | Web Servers and Data Science |
| Java | Enterprise Software and Android Apps |
| C | Operating and Embedded Systems |
| C++ | Enterprise Software and Game Programming (Unreal Engine) |
| C# | Windows Apps and Game Programming (Unity Engine) |
| Swift | MacOS and iOS Apps |
| SQL | Databases |
Getting Started
Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) are text editors that can run your programs. We recommend Replit for an online IDE and Visual Studio Code for a more robust offline editor.
Examples in this and other tutorials on this site will be accessible on Replit. It is easy to get started with most languages on Replit and we recommend it as you are trying out a language for the first time. VS Code is among the top editors for professional and amateur developers alike and has many tools that can enhance the development experience. As you build larger projects, VS Code will likely be the way to go.
Continue with the “Next” button below to start coding using Processing.