5 tips for learning a new programming language in 2022
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With the power of open source, programming can be accessible to anyone.
Find a project you want to work on, and let that be your first entry to
programming.
![Woman sitting in front of her computer][1]
Anyone can get started in programming.[We all started somewhere][2], and you don't need to have a computer science background to learn to code. That's the power of Linux and open source—anyone can learn a bit of coding.
If you want to learn a new programming language, we have several great articles to get you started. Beloware a few of our most popular articles to help you.
### Comparing programming languages
Most programming languages share certain similarities. Once you know how to do a thing in one programming language, learning the next programming language is mostly a matter of figuring out its syntax and structure.
#### [How different programming languages do the same thing][3]
A great way to learn a new programming language is to write a simple test program, such as a game, to explore how the programming language works. One sample program I often write is a simple "guess the number" game, where the computer picks a number between one and 100 and asks me to guess it. Earlier this year, we ran a series of articles exploring how to write the number-guessing game in several programming languages. Learn how these different programming languages implement the major steps in the "guess the number" game.
#### [How different programming languages read and write data][4]
[Alan's][5] article compares how different programming languages read and write data in the same spirit. Whether that data comes from a configuration file or a file a user creates, processing data on a storage device is common for coders. Alan's comparison article provides insight into different approaches taken by several popular programming languages such as C, Java, Groovy, and others.
### Learning a new programming language
Whether you want to pick up a new programming language or want to explore an existing one, check out the great articles below about learning programming.
#### [How to write 'Hello World' in WebAssembly][6]
WebAssembly is a bytecode format that virtually every browser can compile to its host system's machine code. Alongside JavaScript and WebGL, WebAssembly fulfills the demand for porting applications for platform-independent use in the web browser. [Stephan][7] explains how to create the classic Hello World program in WASM-text.
#### [Cross-compiling made easy with Golang][8]
[Gaurav][9] wrote about learning Go's cross-compilation support by converting a script into a Go program. You can write your program once and compile it for another environment with cross-compilation.
#### [Why I use the D programming language for scripting][10]
The D programming language is often thought of as a system programming language due to its static typing and metaprogramming capabilities. However, it's also a very productive scripting language. [Lawrence][11] wrote about how to leverage the D programming language for common scripting.
With the power of open source, programming can be accessible to anyone. Find a project you want to work on, and let that be your first entry to programming.
[1]: https://opensource.com/sites/default/files/styles/image-full-size/public/lead-images/OSDC_women_computing_2.png?itok=JPlR5aCA (Woman sitting in front of her computer)
