Which Programming Language Should I Learn?

Investing time into learning a first (or new) programming language is a seriously-time-consuming endeavor. For me it wasn't something to take lightly, as I knew I'd be investing thousands of hours into any given single language when I began. When people ask which programming languages they should learn or use, a great way to make recommendations is to consider these 3 things:

1. Popularity
2. Is it a scripted (interpreted) or compiled language, and how does that affect what I want to do with it?
3. Which languages are most used in my industry or application?

1) Consider the popularity of languages. The more popular the language, the higher the priority it should be, within reason, since that's what industry uses and that's where you're going to find the most resources, help and support, compatibility with others, and jobs. The TIOBE index is the place to check:
"TIOBE programming community index is a measure of popularity of programming languages, created and maintained by the TIOBE Company based in Eindhoven, the Netherlands.[1] TIOBE stands for 'The Importance of Being Earnest' which is taken from the name of a comedy play written by Oscar Wilde at the end of the nineteenth century.[2]" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TIOBE_index).

Here's the index for 2017: https://www.tiobe.com/tiobe-index/. As shown above, the top 6, in this order, are:

1. Java
2. C
3. C++
4. C#
5. Python, and 
6. JavaScript. 

My top 3 recommendations are Java, C++, and Python, but not necessarily in that order. When it comes to you and your personal needs, goals, and desires, however, you need to choose for yourself! Here's some tips to help you make that decision.

Arduino sine wave siren code using a lookup table in flash memory (PROGMEM)

By Gabriel Staples
Posted: 30 Sept. 2017
Last Updated: 30 Sept. 2017

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Demo Video: