What's the first thing I should try to learn before learning to program? [closed]

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I'm coming from an XHTML/CSS background. I don't know much about JavaScript. Would you recommend learning Ja开发者_如何学PythonvaScript before learning a server programming language?

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No, not really. You could try to learn both at the same time. You can have a lot of fun with AJAX, sending data to and from a webserver to dynamically update your page.

A serverside language like PHP is very similar to JavaScript, so you shouldn't have any trouble learning both at the same time.

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I think that's a fine idea. If you really understand XHTML and CSS, then doing some simple event programming via jquery could be really fun. That said, what you learn won't make learning a server-side platform easier as the way you work in the two environments, and their trappings, are really different. Still, learning to manipulate the DOM will make your CSS work that much cooler.

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There are two ways into "programming" as a profession. The traditional route involves picking courses, and languages, based on some end goal :- "I would like to become a server developer".

The other way will nett you far less certificates. But it amounts to: learn whatever inspires you. Because its inspiration thats the natural learning state. There are no limits to the number of languages, or useful factoids, that can be learn't this way. Find problems you are inspired to solve. Simple problems at first. And solve them. By programming in some language.

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I suggest starting from scratch.

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Sounds like you are a page designer right now. If you want to switch to a hard-core programming role, I'd recommend a formal programming language to start with, either Java or C#.