The Worst and Hardest Programming Languages

Ah, programming. You cannot do without it in today’s world. It is great, but it can also take a toll on the programmer, not just the end user. If a program is good and written in a terrible language, then the programmer suffers. If it was written in a simple language, then there are good odds that the application will be poorly optimized and that the end user will be the one suffering.

If you want to learn to code, you must learn which languages are the absolute worst when it comes to learning them, meaning, the hardest ones. A bad language doesn’t mean that it’s bad in itself, but that its syntax is confusing and puts a lot of stress on the developer. 

C++

Ah, but this language is so great, and everything that’s worth something is written in it, right? Drivers, kernels, operating systems, awesome, fast applications, right? Yes, absolutely right, but its syntax is so difficult and unforgiving that it makes coding for C++ a nightmare.

Its memory management is a lot better than plenty of other languages, which is why it is used in so many cases where you want fast and optimized software. The Unreal engine is built in C++, for example. That, unfortunately, doesn’t mean that all Unreal games will be optimized. The Developer can easily ruin software with bad coding and that is easy to do with C++. Its syntax is really sensitive, being that close to working with memory. It is in high demand, though, so learning to work in C++ will get you a huge salary, but it will take its toll on you. A friend once said: “I work in PHP because I can get away with lazy coding, something I can’t do in C++.” It’s funny because that friend also dislikes PHP and here is why.

PHP

PHP is everything but a simple language. It can do so much but it is also very bad at doing all of that. Lazy coding can be done in PHP, like stated above, but that also means that the application will suffer for it.

PHP is often used to make quick patches but it requires some determination to be used for serious coding. It is often used on the server side of things, as it is, in fact, a networking language.

The problem with PHP is its inconsistent syntax, where adding an underscore to the same function makes things a living abomination out to get you for not knowing all the weirdness that is PHP. There are plenty of other languages that do what PHP does, yet it is very popular still.

Brain****

Profanity is unnecessary, but when it’s in the name of the language, what can you do about it. Esoteric languages like Brain**** are a problem. You need to use symbols to write something. Its syntax is absurdly difficult and it exists only to make people’s lives miserable, people meaning developers.

Perl

Once deemed the language of gods, back in the 90s, today it is outdated and vastly replaced by Python. It has a complex syntax which was never updated to match some of the more modern languages which are a bit more uniform and easier to understand and code in. Perl is powerful, but very hard to learn and even harder to maintain, because not many people want to learn it.

These are some of the hardest languages you can choose to learn today. Some of them we would recommend avoiding, while others, while difficult, are still some of the best languages in the things they do right. Choose your language wisely as not all of them are worth the dedication (looking at you, Brain****).