If you have reached this page, you have probably already started to learn to code using a high-level programming language such as Python, JavaScript, C, php or Ruby. But what does “learning a new programming language” involve?
Learning a programming language is, to some extent, like learning a foreign language. It will require you to learn the words this language is made of. The good news is, unlike modern languages such as English, Arabic, French or Mandarin, programming languages have a very limited number of words for you to learn: these are the reserved keywords and built-in functions of the language.
Let’s compare different programming and non-programming languages!
English?
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Python?
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Hindi?
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HTML?
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CSS?
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French?
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Java?
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It is believed that to be able to be able to take part in every day conversations in a foreign language, you need to know around 2,000 to 3,000 words. To be fluent in a language, you would need to know between 5,000 to 10,000 words!
Luckily, to become a proficient programmer using a programming language, you do not need to remember that many words!
As you have started to learn Python, you can test yourself to see how many of the reserved keywords and built-in functions you can remember by completing the quiz below!
Python QuizOpen in New Window
LMC Simulator
Flowchart Studio
Python Syntax