What was your first programming language? Favorite? Least Favorite?

[Lee]

Also in the vein of clivesay's question, and Neo's, what are your experiences with various programming languages?

I'm trying to get a better idea of who's out there in TC land.

For me: First: BASIC.  Favorite: C.  Least Favorite: COBOL.

After learning some BASIC, FORTRAN and COBOL (yuck) in college (and dropping out of college), I set out on a quest to learn some more about computers.  I taught myself Pascal, Forth, dBASE III Plus, Clipper and assembler and had a hard time with C.  Then I went back to school and took a class in C and it was easy - to this day I'm not sure why I ever had trouble with it.  Then  classes in C++, Java, VB, HTML, javascript and even one in regular BASIC.  Yeah, I know HTML's not a "programming" language.

Now I'm doing mostly EDI work in MUMPS and some shell scripting on UNIX.

[Jason W]

Shell scripting is the only type of programming I have experience in, though I am eager to learn C.  I can look at a C source file and make small changes but I would like to be further able to write or modify C programs.  It is such a universally used language, especially with Linux related apps, that learning it would seem a good investment.  At this stage in life I don't have time to learn more than one language, and even that will cut into other things, so C gets the nod.

I have "C for dummies" and a couple others, but I plan to get the K&R book I have heard so much about and do some deeper learning.

[mikshaw]

First: Basic.  I didn't spend much time with it, and didn't learn anything beyond printing stuff to the screen.  As I said in the other thread,  I hated it.

First language I learned comfortably: Actionscript (Flash 4).  I had already gotten sick of Flash by the time Actionscript became widely considered a programming language, though (Flash 6, a.k.a Flash MX), so again maybe this doesn't count.

I never actually started enjoying programming until I tried Linux and shell scripting.

After that, I got into using Lua thanks to Robert and Jay Carlson.

I have never learned much beyond that...Perl and Python annoy me from an enduser's point of view, so I have no interest in them.  C/C++ are the only "real" languages I have any interest in, but I've had a hard time getting myself to stick with the studies.  Apart from that, Ruby looks interesting, but never found the time to study  it yet.

Favorite is still *nix shell, since I can quickly make a script to tie together a pile of programs that other people have already created.

[lagagnon]

First: FORTRAN. Favourite: Tcl/Tk Least Favourite: C++ Now learning: Python.

[softwaregurl]

first would be Integer basic, fav was the included mini assembler. I kind of wish it was still practical to write in that low level of language. When I got stuck without a copy of the mini assembler I would grab the book and program with the two digit hex codes.
For now it's mostly perl because, coupled with a web server, the end user has a familiar web interface (sorry mikshaw ).  I was very disappointed with c++ for windows 3.1x and dropped it but now that I'm getting more into Linux I'm spending some time getting back into c/c++. Shell is difficult because I use it so little that I've forgotten what I learned by the next time I use it.  Right now I'm trying to understand using regex with utf-8.  Wasn't keeping track and some things Ive written quit working.

[fos]

My first was Fortran with punch cards in the early 70s, crt terminal were experimental and unreliable. I graduated to an early BASIC on an IBM selectric terminal. I eventually learned C and Turbo C++. I would have to say my favorite ic ANSI C. But I have always been an amateur so take my opinions with a grain of salt.

Jeff

[Flymo]

Hex!  I started with Hex machine code on the SC/MP in 1977

C4 = LDI = Load Immediate

Not long after, I was introduced to a High Level Language -> NIBL
http://www.dos4ever.com/SCMP/SCMP.html#NIBL

Neither of them involved writing more than a few K of code, but
that was all the memory there was in the world at that time. Well,
that was what my boss told me. 

NIBL was surprisingly good, the indirect '@' operator was demon
for creating useful integer (8-bit) variables and (best of all) banging
or reading bytes in memory-mapped I/O, it is so nearly a favourite.
Lean but effective, designed for the task it performed.

>>>>off topic<<<<<
SC/MP was afaik the first multiprocessor micro architecture sold to
the public. I still have the demo card in the attic. It is neat.
For a long long time it looked like being the last of the multiprocessors,
but Casey Powell at Sequent picked that up with a successor to the
SC/MP, the NS32000 family in 1983/4.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sequent_Computer_Systems

Sadly, it was at that time very much an Intel world, and Sequent
switched to them for the next design iteration, although Casey
told me that it was a backward step in many ways.

Now Intel and AMD are enjoying the fun of multiprocessing - the devil
is in the software segmentation.  32 years ago, that was also true.
>>>>back again<<<<<

Fave language has to be FORTH, the implementation on the
Jupiter Ace.  Fell in love with that, bigtime.  Wrote some very
very unreadable code, too!

Unfavourite is C++.  Just as I was getting the hang of C, not
a great love, but useful enough, along comes this Object OOP stuff
that cluttered up the scenery with fuzzy concepts and  h u g e
compiled code.         Most of the time (when coding) I was happily doing
similar applications in Assembler for Z80/NSC800 and COP400 single-
chip micro - in about a tenth of the ROM needed by the compilers.
Of course, it all had to fit inside 64K, or 640K, or less than 1K on
some  COP400  low cost versions (like 50c in volume).
Today code is so big that different approaches are clearly needed,
guess I ought to learn something more useful!

<sigh>
 

[fos]

The university I attended had a quad core Sequent machine running Unix in the early 90s. While taking a C/Unix intro course there were only four unix terminals in the computer lab. There were over a hundred students.

I solved my problem by loading MW Coherent on a Zeos 386 laptop. I actually got an early version of X Window running on it. The MW K&R C compiler was excellent. It was fast and produced very efficient code.

Jeff

[nickispeaki]

first basic and Russian Algorithmic Language. Then favorite Pascal.

[alanbcohen]

My first computer language was CUPL, a PL/I variant that was a contemporary of the original Dartmouth BASIC.  It was run from punch cards via RJE HASP.  I guess my favorites for my own use, or at least the ones I used most frequently were AppleSoft Basic and Forth-79; I developed my own Forth-79 system for the Apple ][ series of machines.  My least favorite was clearly Pascal; I am not a fan of heavily-typed languages.  I would add that I enjoyed the application generators in Revelation and Advanced Revelation; they were the simplest, most convenient databases I've ever used.  Unfortunately, the modern successors to them are well outside my price range at $1,400US at a minimum. (I paid $150 new ten years ago).

[adssse]

Wow, I didnt expect to see the word COBOL in this thread...

Like many my first experience was with Basic in school. After that it was some VB, C/C++ and Java. I always enjoyed C++ the best (perhaps that was just because it was what most of my classes were based in). Now I am stuck at work doing mostly COBOL coding along with some Java and Javascript. I have been planning on learning Perl and also dusting off the old C books I have, but it has been hard to find enough time to dig in deep.

[thane]

My first language was WATFIV-S (a subset of FORTRAN), followed by BASIC, COBOL, Pascal, a little PL/I, and (nowadays) Java. Actually liked Pascal the best (someone once called it a language that requires you to think sideways). PL/I was definitely the worst.

[bmarkus]

FORTRAN and ALGOL 60 nearly at the same time.

Later I implemented FORTH on many different arhitectures and developped applications. And of course C and assembly.

Currently I'm using mostly Python and PHP. I really love Python!

[bmarkus]

Fave language has to be FORTH, the implementation on the
Jupiter Ace.  Fell in love with that, bigtime.  Wrote some very
very unreadable code, too!

Really happy to see a FORTH guy on the board.

  I see I have to submit my FORTH extensions to Jason

[jpeters]

I'm always surprised to see no votes for tcl-tk.  I used it to re-write virtually all my windoz oo apps.