Understanding which programming language to study first in 2022 requires determining which type or types of programming paradigms you will be working on. Some languages are suitable for only one kind, and some are excellent for multiple types of coding. The paradigms you will work with will largely depend on how the industry you work for uses software programming and what kinds of applications or solutions you will create.

Procedural

Procedural programming languages are suitable for sectioning the programming into functions, variables and conditional operators to provide a set of commands. For instance, when creating the software for a Professional Employee Organization, or PEO, company, you will need an excellent procedural programming language to create a well-structured list of procedures for composing the program. This structural programming paradigm will help your team develop one process or step list and be able to build customized solutions for each of the PEO solution company's clients. Notable languages fitting this category include JAVA, C, and BASIC.

Functional

Functional programming languages construct programs by composing and applying functions, also known as a declarative programming paradigm. It is important to note that this paradigm does not support loop and iteration statements such as "if-else." Well-known functional programing language examples are Scala, Haskell and SML. This programming language type helps create and maintain a customer data platform because the information being handled is easily translated into functions.

Object-Oriented

The objects used in object-oriented programming languages are data and code in the forms of fields and procedures, respectively. Also called OOP, this type of coding language specializes in valuable tools such as encapsulation, abstraction and inheritance, which allows for the use and reuse of code packets with minor alterations and varying configurations. Java, Python, and C++ are languages well-suited for this type of programming paradigm and can be found in the code of everything from gaming applications to web development.

Scripting

Scripting programming languages do not require a compilation step and are written for interpretation and run-time environments. The lack of a compile stage makes these languages well-suited for plugins and extensions for existing apps, web development, and multimedia applications. In this category, you will also find web development and system administration scripting languages such as Ruby and Python. These include languages for server-side scripting, like Javascript, and client-side scripting, like AJAX.

Logic

With the logic programming paradigm, the coding does not tell the machine how to do something but rather puts restrictions on what it can consider doing. PROLOG and Datalog are popular languages in this coding paradigm, particularly useful in data management, knowledge representation and machine learning applications such as the development of Artificial Intelligence. This paradigm is rarely seen outside knowledge representation applications, making it more of a niche paradigm than others.

Common Threads

Looking at these brief category descriptions of the programming languages used these days, you may notice that some languages pop up more than once. Python, for example, can be used in multiple paradigms and is considered the easiest to learn, especially for its versatility in applications. Java is another popular one for beginning programmers to learn, mainly because it has been in use for quite a while and has an extensive library of open-source code. Each language will have unique pros and cons, so your best bet is to look at the fields you are in or want to go into to see the best-suited languages for that type of work.

Many coding languages fall into multiple paradigms because of their popularity and ease of use. Many different programming languages are used today across various specialties and industries. It can be challenging to determine which ones to start learning for beginners and which are excellent educational investments for experienced coders. By narrowing your options down to the programming paradigm you will be primarily working with, you can find a short list of popular languages to start with and expand from there.