More than 20 years ago now (wow, I'm old), I was in the middle of a computer science program at my alma matter, Carnegie Mellon University.

And, at that time, they had a pretty strong opinion about what programming language CS students, such as myself, should learn and use: C++ (and also, while were at at it, C).

Learning C++ and C as my first languages wound up serving me well. But having learned probably 10 languages between then and now, I can't help but think, "wow, a managed language (or whatever) might have flattened my learning curve and made life easier."

So, here's my question for the group in 2020. Should new programmers learn C/C++ first?

• Yes, learn those and everything else is easy!
• No, newbies should work themselves up to either C or C++