Learning to code still remains a buzz. The problem facing any budding new programmer is how to start. Questions abound. What’s the best programming language for a beginner? What’s the best way to learn? A beginner might be tempted by reading books titled ‘teach yourself [insert programming language] in 24 hours’. But don’t be in such a rush. In my opinion, it is best to first get interested in programming, then seek out some experienced coders and discuss and discuss, and learn programming by doing, practising with lots of practical examples and the aid of an excellent introductory book.
There are many mature programming languages to choose from. Functional languages, object-oriented languages, dynamic languages, compiled languages, declarative languages, interpreted languages, scripting languages, and imperative languages are some of the varied language types.
Like a fine wine, programming languages get better with age. Programming languages take years to become established and dominant. The deciding factor for many programmers when selecting a language for a particular project has been popularity and language acceptance. Another factor is previous experience with the language.
All of these books are excellent introductory texts. To help break down the barriers, this article presents my selection of the finest free introductory programming books available. There is 1 text selected per language.
| Beginner Books | |
|---|---|
| C | The C Book |
| C++ | Thinking in C++ 2nd Edition |
| C# | C# Yellow Book - Cheese Edition |
| PHP | PHP Essentials |
| Perl | Beginning Perl |
| Python | Think Python - How to Think Like a Computer Scientist |
| HTML | What Is HTML5? |
| Java | Introduction to Programming in Java |
| JavaScript | Eloquent JavaScript |
| Lua | Programming in Lua |
| Pascal | Essential Pascal |
| Ruby | Learn Ruby the Hard Way |
| CoffeeScript | Smooth CoffeeScript |
| Scala | Learning Scala |
| Haskell | Real World Haskell |
| Fortran | Interactive Fortran 77 |
| Forth | Starting Forth |
| Erlang | Learn You Some Erlang for Great Good! |
| R | An Introduction to R |
| Lisp | Common Lisp: A Gentle Introduction to Symbolic Computation |
| Ada | Ada 95: The Craft of Object-Oriented Programming |
| Assembly | Programming from the Ground Up |
| Prolog | Learn Prolog Now! |
| Scheme | The Scheme Programming Language |
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