Neil Bothwick

One of the first problems someone interested in learning to program encounters is picking a language. They’ll get advice from all sides on why they should start with Perl or Python, C or C++, and that’s before you get into all the other languages: Java, Go and Haskell, for example.

In truth, the core principles of programming apply to all languages and much of the knowledge gained when learning in one language is still useful when trying another. But that still leaves the stumbling block of where to start. This is another area in which the humble Raspberry Pi has helped.

The Raspberry Pi was aimed at getting people to use and program computers, because it was cheap. Kids could have their own and it didn’t matter if they broke it. I know it’s difficult to break hardware with software, but that doesn’t stop people being afraid of the possibility. The Pi also standardised Python as the default programming language. It doesn’t matter whether Python is the best language for a particular task if it gets people started. Standardising on a language removes the confusion over the range of languages to choose from, and means there’s plenty of information on performing all sorts of tasks in that language.

If the new programmer then wants to try a different language, they’ll be able to make a more informed decision. Crucially, they’ll also have started on the road to programming.