Interests in computer programming are gaining grounds daily with many people turning into the web to gain an understanding of how best to acquire this much needed skill for software development. There are very many programming languages in the market with a lot of people getting confused on what program to learn, maybe as an introduction, or others will look for being experts immediately. But being a non-computer expert myself, I will recommend a language that has greatly enabled me understand and appreciate the world of computer programming, making other languages easy and interesting.
When a variety of products are in the market, and the products can be used to gain a skill, there is always a product more suitable for a beginner than another product and in the world of computer programming, I would personally recommend learning PASCAL before proceeding to any other language.
Though in some people have said that starting to learn programming one would be better of if he/she started with VISUAL BASIC (a language developed by Microsoft from Q-BASIC), I would say that PASCAL is able to give the beginner a friendlier and expert based approached that VISUAL BASIC does not give.
PASCAL programming lingual as the advantage of being a structured program other than being an object oriented program. Though it requires that the learner understands how to work effectively with variables and come up with the functions he/she will need in his/her program, the language is an easy one to understand and follow stepwise. It makes it easier to acquire the needed programming skills that will enable the beginner develop into being a computer programmer faster. After learning PASCAL, the beginner will find it easier to learn other professional based languages such as C++, and JAVA.
VISUAL BASIC is recommended for a beginner because most of the functions and procedures in other structured programs such as PASCAL have been done for the user. For example, instead of coming up with the user interface for click command, the VISUAL BASIC has, in a three dimension format, come up with a drag and drop command which one only need to put on the active form. The command will therefore be just told on what to do when clicked (for example open a file). But in PASCAL, the user has to put the command by personal design using built in units in the PASCAL, and locate the command at the desired place on screen (monitor) where the user can click on. Since PASCAL is more demanding on this as other programs such as C++, and due to its simplicity in language and variable understanding, it is recommended to begin with it for VISUAL BASIC will have done a lot of things for you, leaving you somehow illiterate on how you program actually works!
Another basic advantage PASCAL has over VISUAL BASIC especially for the beginner is its available help. VISUAL BASIC that comes with the VISIUAL STUDIO software is rather big, taking a lot of space, and to access the help you need to have MSDN installed in your computer. Though PASCAL is small in size (does not occupy a lot of disk space and memory when running), it comes with the help and user guide always available in the compiler. So, if you want to begin learning a computer programming language using your personal computer at home, I would advice that you start by learning PASCAL, then you learn C++, then you can master JAVA among other complex programming languages.
