'Best' programming language for my son to learn?

[shaunholley]

I know there's a lot of IT guys on here, so I thought I'd ask a question. My son is about to start an apprenticeship in Web Development programming and it got me wondering what would be the best language for him to learn, both financially and career-opportunity wise in the IT sector. In other words, in what area of software development does the demand for programmers outstrip the supply? That's quite vague I know, but it would be interesting to know your thoughts. Ideally he'd like to code for games: not sound, graphics or level design, but the nitty-gritty of the game engine.

Thanks.

 

[Hurray Banana]

Game engines is really gonna be C++

Web is php, c#, javascript.

If he knows nothing about programming start with the web stuff to get the basic down (code academy is a good start point). Once he has the basics and some confidence he can start adding C++. The syntax of javascript and c# have some similarities so it won't be completely alien to him.

He can get some quick work with c# by using unity (which is free), and use Unreal Engine (free as well) to get some C++ in. learning using a game engine at least makes what he is doing interesting.

VS2015 community is free and will let him code in php, c#, javascript, c++ and others and will link in with Unity and Unreal engine

Get him to always do projects he doesn't know how to do, so that he learns.

Just my two peneth Shaun.

 

[phillv85]

Whatever they use to develop mobile apps is in crazy demand at our place, they can't get enough people with the skills. I wish I'd paid more attention to software rather than hardware when I was younger

 

[Hurray Banana]

Vs 2015 let's you build xamarin apps.

 

[shaunholley]

Thanks Eric. He's pretty OK with C# and used VS a lot at college, mostly for Visual Basic. We both messed with Java a while ago and he seems to be able to switch between languages without too much hassle. Python is another he's dabbled in. He's messed with Unreal Engine as well so maybe that's a route he can go down if he doesn't like the web development thing.

Thanks Phill. He's got Gamemaker Studio with the Android / iOS app publishing tools which apparently can be used to make awesome mobile apps / games. It has a powerful scripting language under the 'drag and drop' interface. What apps do they develop at your place?

 

[Nes4life]

Swift is the new language of choice for all things iOS, Java is still all things android, recommend getting into Xamarin for mobile games development. C# will get you far if you like general software and Windows stuff.
C++ for game engines. A wise man once said "Languages will come and go but C/C++ remains"
I'm an Objective-C dev but I really got to sharpen up on Swift if I want to continue.
Nes4life2016-09-29 20:42:54

 

[shaunholley]

Thanks Phill. That Xamarin seems like it's definitely worth a look and I'll make him aware of it as another option.

 

[phillv85]

It's all banking apps at our place, so really dull for someone looking to develop games, on the plus side, they pay pretty well

 

[shaunholley]

That does sound a bit boring mate. You want to get into the exciting world of stock control, like me!

 

[Flinnster]

I would say -any- coding language is helpful - things move so fast, he'll need to learn new ones on the job anyway. Things never stay the same for long, so being flexible and being able to learn new systems fast and adapt is more useful than being a master at a language that ends up obsolete in 3 years time.

 

[shaunholley]

Thanks Flinnster - that does seem like sound advice.

 

[Hurray Banana]

I would say -any- coding language is helpful - things move so fast, he'll need to learn new ones on the job anyway. Things never stay the same for long, so being flexible and being able to learn new systems fast and adapt is more useful than being a master at a language that ends up obsolete in 3 years time.

+1

It's the nice thing about programming, always new stuff and technique to learn