What computer languages should i learn before entering a computer science progream at a university?

Dylan: What computer languages should i learn before entering a computer science progream at a university?
Hi. I’m a high school senior this year. And I’ve recently learned some HTML, and i really like coding. This has led to me to consider computer science as a major in college. I was just wondering what languages you guys think I should know before I get to college, if any.

Answers and Views:

Answer by Cloud Strife
Well if you’re into scripting college is the place to go to LEARN scripting languages, but I must tell you now that HTML is easy stuff compared to other scripting languages.

Answer by Ardi
it would help to know some java and c++ so you have a head start, but they’ll teach you them anyway

Answer by William V
I’ve been in the computer industry for about 37 years.

Today, business developers (those writing business applications) need to know C#, Visual Basic.NET, SQL as well as HTML, XAML and the application architectures that support them.

However, each part of the industry has different requirements. Games are often written in special languages or C++ and Java. Process-control (robotics, machinery control) applications and device drivers are often written in assembly language.

So… it depends on what you want to do with your CS degree.

Answer by Dali
If it’s somethig you enjoy doing then it is absolutely a good
idea to read up and learn some basics before starting college. Visual Basic is pretty useful and easy to learn. If you have more time I would also recommend reading something on C and Java. Just google tutorials on these and you’ll find a lot of good stuff.

Answer by Eddie Waltz
Don’t learn Java.

C, C++, C#, Visual Basic, sure. But not Java – it can actually be detrimental to your programming skills.

Since you enjoy HTML, you might want to learn some other web-useful scripting/programming like Perl, PHP, CSS, javascript, and ASP.NET. May not be required for a CS degree, but they are valuable to know.

Answer by bluzclues
I go to a major university in the west coast. The main language they teach to us is java. There are some classes that teach other languages as well, but java is like the primary language they teach simply because it’s so easy to learn and covers a lot of the fundamental programming concepts that professors really want students to know.

Additionally, it’s very similar to C++ and scripting languages like php. So once you learn java it’s easy to branch off from there into other languages.