Should beginners start with Python or JavaScript for their first project?

I tried building a simple weather app in JavaScript last week and spent 3 hours debugging a single bracket error... but my friend says Python's syntax is way more forgiving and his first project took him half the time. Which one actually teaches you the basics better without making you want to quit?

2 comments

2 Comments

claire9991mo agoMost Upvoted

... and honestly that bracket error probably taught you more than if everything worked perfectly the first time. I remember when I tried making a calculator in JavaScript and spent two days crying over a missing semicolon, my roommate laughed so hard he choked on his coffee. But here's the thing, Python's easier to pick up but you don't get that same hands-on feel for how browsers actually run code. JavaScript kicked my butt for months but now I can spot a misplaced bracket from across the room, which is weirdly handy. Both languages will make you want to quit at some point, that's just the deal with coding.

matthew_dixon1mo ago

Hold on, is it really that serious? You spent 3 hours on a bracket, that's just part of the game. Python is easier to start with because you don't have to worry about curly braces and all that DOM stuff right away, but JavaScript teaches you how the web actually works. Honestly, if you want to build something you can put online fast, go Python and use a basic framework, but if you're already 3 hours into a bracket error you already learned the biggest lesson about coding, which is that you'll spend half your time fixing little mistakes no matter what language you pick.