What is the best language to learn?

[YorkshireSpud]

Im personally learning how to program in python though I do know of other languages. Is Python the best to learn off?

[Gribouillis]

Everybody has his/her favorite language. What we lack is an objective criterion to define the best language. It's an ill posed problem. You can

1. google what is the best programming language.
2. Think about something else.

Python is a very good general purpose language, from a technical point of vue.

[ddanbe]

As Gribouillis puts it, there is no "best" language. I guess it is the language you feel most confortable and productive in. For me for the moment that is C# in the Visual Studio IDE. In the past it used to be Modula-2 under MPW(Mactosh Programmers Workshop); Who knows what the future will bring?

[sneekula]

C# has the best integrated/unified system. However, you will be married to Windows and the NET. Let's not forget that 90% of PCs and laptops in the world are Windows based. The best part is that it produces executable files (.exe).

Python has a hotch potch of IDE's, GUI toolkits, form builders and on top that two often conflicting versions. This can be very confusing to the beginner. Python should be easier to learn since it allows several programming styles and does not force you into OOP from day one, like C# and Java do.

[sneekula]

There is also IronPython that has the look of C# but the easier syntax of Python.
http://www.zetcode.com/tutorials/ironpythontutorial/

Free IronPython download from:
http://ironpython.codeplex.com/
There is a free studio like IDE at:
http://sharpdevelop.codeplex.com/
that can be used for C# and IronPython.

[sneekula]

Here is a nice C# tutorial:
http://zetcode.com/lang/csharp/

The Python tutorial:
http://zetcode.com/lang/python/

Might as well look at the Java tutorial too:
http://zetcode.com/lang/java/

[ddanbe]

I also happen to like Python very much. What I dislike very much (certainly for a newbie in the language like me) is the 2.x 3.x story! You don't have that in updates of C#. Here every update adds, but does not change things. OK you learn to live with it, but it is a pain in the somewhere
I like the OOP paradigm very much, but I also happen to play around in assembly on some microcontrollers and I guess little can be done here using OO.

[vegaseat]

I like Python because you can be very innovative and quick when solving problems. My advice, stick with the newer Python3 version. Since the internet is full of Python2 examples, learn to recognize the older syntax and change it.

If I remember it correctly, C# (Csharp) was Microsoft's answer to Java. There is a connection to Turbo Pascal and Delphi via Anders Hejlsberg the chief architect of C#. Recent versions of Java have adopted features from C#.