An Introduction to Programming for Students: Choosing the Right Language and Tools

When starting to learn how to code, students are bound to make mistakes if they go AWOL with their personal projects. And the desire to create ones is completely understandable ‘cause, let’s admit, programming is not the kind of a degree you can obtain by hiring someone to “ write my essay for me “ and complete other papers. You need to practice day and night.

Sure, you could go with the curriculum and not rush developing new skills. However, before you start practicing coding, there may be a lot of theoretical material. The latter is definitely needed to become a well-rounded programmer, but if you are willing to start a pet project, like, right now, we have prepared a short guide for you! 

From this article, you will learn what tools to choose to start your first project. It will be especially useful for students whose major degree isn’t related to programming and who don’t have a reliable mentor. However, be ready that with no prior knowledge, mastering each tool can be a bit more complex. So, consider addressing one of the essay writing service to manage your written assignments, at least.

Basics

Code Editor

You could use Visual Studio Code for any kind of project you’d like. It’s a universal tool with various extensions you can manage yourself. Yet, when it comes to specifics, you might find that extensions can’t substitute an editor crafted for this or that language. So, here are the leaders to choose from:

• WebStorm (JS)
• CLion (C/C++)
• PhpStorm (PHP)
• PyCharm (Python)
• IntelliJ IDEA (Java)

Command Line

If you aren’t familiar yet with working via the command line instead of a pretty interface, be sure it’s inevitable. Apps like GitHub Desktop might sound like a life-saver, but they have limited functionality and don’t really help you understand what is going on under the hood. So, master this before you actually start serious coding. 

Version Control System

Storing your code is one of the first things you should take care of to avoid losing all the precious work you’ve done. When it comes to cloud storage, there are three main options:

• GitLab
• GitHub (mostly suitable for open-source projects)
• BitBucket

Make sure you learn a few things about SSH codes and how branches in version control systems work, first. For that, you will need to get acquainted with Git basics to handle different versions of code as well as merge and edit them in a team of developers. Git will also preserve your data locally just like in the cloud storage. Now, let’s identify the groups of language and its adjacent tools based on what you are trying to achieve.

Web Applications or Web Pages

A typical web page is built based on JavaScript. The language has numerous frontend frameworks that we will talk about below, but there is one tool to mention before it. Currently, few web-development projects are sufficient without Typescript, so it can tag along most projects based on JS. 

What concerns the backend, you could use PHP, Node.js, or Python for the majority of projects. Yet, if you use Angular for the frontend, then Nest.js for the backend is recommended. MongoDB and Mongoose will help you handle the database stuff. Yet, from there, it becomes a bit more complicated. 

Landing Page

A landing page’s frontend can run on Vanilla JavaScript. It requires minimum knowledge – simply JS – but the development can take ages due to the lack of great tools, including debugging ones, frameworks are equipped with. To make it easier, you could use Next.js – a framework built on the React library. But there are some reasons why you can’t use React itself.

CRM or Admin Panel

These kinds of projects do not require to be marketed. There are already clients who want and need it, so they won’t use Google to find them. React.js is perfect for such websites since the library doesn’t provide good SEO. In other terms, it’s an excellent tool to create interactive and fast UI.

CRMs also go well with Java, yet, the language is more complicated than JavaScript (and they are different languages, by the way). So, it will all depend on your knowledge, timeframes, and motivation.

Forum or Social Media

Pinterest, LinkedIn, Facebook, Meta – all of these rely heavily on JavaScript frameworks on the frontend part of the code. Twitter is one of the popular exceptions – it was built on Ruby on Rails and migrated partially to Java to scale the app. However, basically, you will need JS and nothing else if you’re aiming to create frontend code for a new and better Facebook. 

Mobile Apps

Here, you can opt for React Native (both iOS and Android apps) or Ionic (hybrid apps) to stay within the JS ecosystem. Besides, with knowledge of React, you’d master the former in no time. However, if you deal with native applications, those require working with other tools: Swift (for iOS) or Java/Kotlin(for Android).

Software & Desktop Apps

Java is a versatile language commonly used for developing software and desktop applications. Its platform independence and vast ecosystem make it suitable for building applications that run on different operating systems. 

However, if you want to improve your proficiency in JavaScript, you can also use Electron for desktop apps. The framework allows you to build desktop apps using web technologies like HTML, CSS, and JavaScript. It combines the power of web development with the ability to create cross-platform desktop applications, thus making it a popular choice for software development projects.

Creation of Databases

When it comes to creating databases for your projects, SQL (Structured Query Language) is widely used, and it’s a fundamental skill for many developers. SQL allows you to interact with databases, perform queries, and manage data effectively. It provides a standardized way to store, retrieve, and manipulate structured data.

You will need EXPLAIN (for optimization) and one of the database management systems below:

• SQLite
• MySQL
• PostgreSQL

For database modeling and design, consider using MySQL Workbench. It’s most suitable since you can also use it for administration.

Machine Learning

The basic set of tools for a machine learning project is as follows:

• Flask (Python web framework)
• Selenium (for data extraction and automation tasks)
• OpenCV (if you need image or video processing)
• PyTorch (for building neural networks)

Also, you will need to work with SQL databases and use Docker to simplify the deployment and management of your application.

Takeaway

When starting a project, consider its purpose, the problem to be solved, and the requirements. Depending on whether it’s web development, mobile apps, software, or machine learning, choose the appropriate language and associated tools based on the tips above. And, obviously, be patient! It will take some time to get acquainted with the new tools but won’t be in vain!