HELP! Must choose language!

[Roy Smith]

chewdip20 at aol.com (Chewdip20) wrote:
> Hello, everyone, I am a 9th grade student, who is very interested in learning
> programming. I realize I waited too long to begin, as many have started in
> earlier grades, but I am determined to learn something. But that is where it
> stops. I have no idea what programming language to learn.

You say your teachers have tried to talk you out of learning Python?  
Well, Mark Twain is reputed to have said, "I have never let my schooling 
interfere with my education".  You should take this to heart!

I think Python is an excellent first programming language for somebody 
in the 9th grade.  It is relatively simple to learn, and powerful enough 
to keep you doing useful things for a long time.  It will also introduce 
you to many modern programming concepts which you'll find in other 
languages.  I do a lot of production programming in Python.

I wouldn't bother with BASIC at all, but either C or C++ might be good 
second langugaes.

Of course, you do realize that it's going to be difficult to get an 
unbiased opinion in this group; the people who hang out here are all 
Pythonistas already.  You might want to ask the exact same question in 
some other language groups and see what answers you get.  Undoubtedly, 
you'll get different opinions, and then you'll be faced with the problem 
of looking at all the conflicting data and making your own decision.  
This too is a part of real life.