Most useful language to know?

So what's the most useful language to know, of them all? Just in your opinion.
As a noob programmer I was advised to learn python first as it is 'easiest' is this the case or is it just worth jumping straight into another language?

 

In this day and age... C++ or Java. Java is becoming more widely used.

 

Yeah I heard both of those were really useful. Are they okay to start on though? As I really am very inexperienced in programming and these sort of languages

 

In the industry, Java is pretty much useless. If you want to get a software engineering job, then C++ is the way to go. It really depends what you want to do.

Iphone apps -> objective-c
android apps -> form of java
video games -> c++

a very good learning all around language is python. I would definitely recommend it as a first language

 

You can actually make Android/iPhone apps in a variety of languages using different tools. You can even make them in a .NET language using Mono Pro now, I believe - I know for fact that you can make games in C# XNA and port them to Monogame and they'll work on mobile devices.

There are 2 most useful languages for my own usages that I know:

• Visual Basic.NET - Very practical for quick programs and programs I want to get done quickly and edit extensively later (very easy to read)
• C#.NET - I get to still use the .NET classes I like so much but use a syntax that is more "friendly" with school and the industry, so I'm never completely lost when someone presents me with C-syntax code. I also know C++ but would never use it willingly. Same goes for Java.

 

Within the web design field, it's HTML, Xhtml, Php, mysql, CSS, and XML*.

General programming, Java, C, C++, C#

Anything .net is extremely useful, VB, ASP, C#, etc.

And the most in-demand are probably ASP, Ruby, and Django.

 

Once you learn one, you learn all. Don't worry about it.

 

C++ is probably the best for beginners to learn.

 

Python is an extremely versatile, easy to use language.

Read more about it, there are a lot of great things you can do with Python, there are plenty of web frameworks for it as well. (Django, web.py, etc)

 

I started with C++

The main problem is that the learning curve is exceptionally steep. It's also a pretty huge language in terms of the number of keywords you need to learn.

But there are a couple of good newish books that start from the basics and cover almost everything. C++ primer which is the best IMO is 1400 pages though.

C++ Primer (5th Edition)

Programming: Principles and Practice Using C++

 

Thanks for all the replies, really has helped a lot! Just out of curiosity, If you become good at c++ and maybe another few languages, can you find work using these skills?

 

People can learn concepts in any language. I'd rather teach people on language that forces you to type more and is strongly typed than a scripting language that does a lot for you. Learning conditionals, looping, variables, basic console I/O, math functions, simple string manipulation, some basic coding challenges can be done in essentially any language. I'd rather not do it in Javascript since it doesn't fail nicely (since it doesn't compile). Catching syntax errors before you try to run something helps, in my opinion. But honestly, teach them whatever language.

 

...Except VB. VB is great, don't get me wrong, but it teaches way too many bad habits. The second language I learned after VB was Java and it wasn't hard, though my VB habits made it very frustrating to use. When I started learning C++ it was even worse, lol.

 

Yeah, it's possible, but you will probably need more than just knowing a language to keep a job.

Knowing about design patterns, version control, documentation techniques and having good team/communication skills are also important, I would say as a minimum.

 

If you take up a job in computer-programming, you're probably going to run into C++ one day or another

I'm currently learning Java as my first language (after going through HTML, CSS and JavaScript) and so far, I haven't really come across any major problems in learning it

 

One last question, if anyone reads this I'm curious would a good coder and a good hacker have the same skill set? Because I can't understand why they'd hack if they could be making money doing something worthwhile?

 

This is patently false. Java is one of the most used languages in industry.

 

Skills set could vary vastly. It depends on languages and how wide your knowledge extends into sysadmin work. Hacking on a standard level is not usually for financial gain, but rather entertainment or just a challenge.

 

Python isn't a scripting language. Agreed with all the rest though.

Also to the person who said Java isn't used in the industry, are you serious...?

It's one of the most used languages in the industry.