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I believe every programmer must learn about a core programming language and a scripting language. Seriously I've no hand in any languages like Python, JavaScript, JScript, CScript etc. I'm native Windows Developer and which scripting language would be the best one to do some automation/web related stuffs.

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I believe you're asking for a good scripting language to startup with? – Nips Feb 1 '11 at 11:56
@Nipuna - Yes exactly. I'm sure every scripting languages are having it's own goodness for certain things. – user15220 Feb 2 '11 at 4:03

closed as off topic by Yannis Rizos♦ May 31 '12 at 7:05

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6 Answers

up vote 11 down vote

Python. Period.
Google has very good introductory lectures.

EDIT
Why?

Because Python is:

  • Easy to understand for beginners
  • Scalable (can be used for developing small AND large project)
  • Portable
  • Cross-Platform
  • Object-Oriented
  • Simple
  • FUN
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Why not Pearl? ;) No seriously: Start with Python or Pearl and when you are comfortable with one, you can at least read or do some basic stuff with the other one. Is someone else already using a scripting language at your current company? Might ease the learning and give you some real projects. – Christian Feb 1 '11 at 12:31
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Please expand your answer. Why is Python a good language to start with? What about it would be hare to learn as a first language? – Walter Feb 1 '11 at 13:02
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@Christian: I assumed you meant Perl, although I was surprised to find there is a PEARL programming language. – Jaime Soto Feb 1 '11 at 13:26
@Jaime: You're right. – Christian Feb 1 '11 at 13:37
@Christian: I know Python very well, but even the best Perl code I've seen doesn't make more sense to me than e.g. Scala code (to pick a language I know equally little about). That is to say, I get what most of it propably does, but I don't really understand the finer points. – delnan Feb 1 '11 at 15:40
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up vote 3 down vote

For web stuff, JavaScript is extremely useful. It complements any server-side programming you are doing in other languages and it gives you a taste of scripting that is pretty easy to learn and can be tested right there in the browser.

For windows automation I use Powershell a lot. It doesn't feel much like a real language ( maybe Perl, a touch ) and you wouldn't use it to write applications, but it really is very handy for automating things in Windows that you need to automate, and as it can reach into .net it can actually do a lot of clever things with your system- more than you might expect.

If you want to learn something for fun then maybe start with Ruby. It's flexible, expressive and powerful but mostly it is an absolute pleasure to program with.

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Thanks... I've heard of Ruby connected to Web. but never tried it before. Also you perfectly answered my question. I also want to learn something not really depends on a single platform. In that sense Ruby and Python make sense. – user15220 Feb 2 '11 at 4:07
up vote 3 down vote

General purpose? Then either Python or Perl. I'd say the latter was more used but it doesn't really matter, just pick one of the two and go with it!

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up vote 1 down vote

If you want to continue with Windows development only, then you should go with VBScript and/or JScript.

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up vote 0 down vote

For web related stuff I would recommend you to use JavaScript and PHP as a start. both are very common scripting languages and you can find many articles to get a good start.

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up vote 0 down vote

I would recommend you to start with JavaScript as one should have some knowledge in Front End/Client Side Scripting Languages and JavaScript should be the starting point.

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