What programming languages should you learn for Physics?

Hi everyone!

In this video I describe my workflow for computational physics. I go into why I use the languages I do, and talk about the pros and cons of different languages.

Mr . P Solver:

Recommended textbooks:
Quantum mechanics:
Statistical mechanics:
Quantum information:

[MrPSolver]

Thanks for the shoutout! ❤️. I'm actually planning on learning C++ some time in the near future, would love to see samples of your code on here!

[EpicMathTime]

I think people should just get skills in one typical OO language and not get too hung up on the choice of initial language. Once you do that, hopping to another one as needed is basically trivial. Off the top of my head, ancient Fortran is good for computational science, I think, as is Python. I learned Python, but I now use C# exclusively.

I'm no programmer or software engineer, so I don't have a deep technical knowledge on these languages, but as a casual user, they all pretty much feel the same to me.

[swagatbordoloi]

I'm a freshly enrolled PhD student in astrophysics, but I changed my specializations from CMP and hence have beginner level computational knowledge. Can you give a brief roadmap on how should I proceed to learn the required things as it would help me to make my learning journey a bit better? maybe atleast for the initial stage

[richardbennett]

You guys, @MrPSolver included could benefit from learning LAPACK and Fortran. But, Mr Riddell, if you know C++ and no Fortran, you might find Fortran odd, though its syntax or I should say its readability is not so different from python.

[HaroldSchranz]

Python is good for prototyping but for serious supercomputing, there is not much to be gained by not using Fortran. Of course, if speed is not an issue, C# and C++ might be OK - though wny torture yourself with the latter.

[chaitanyavarmamudunuri]

What about Julia programming language?

[bibekgautam]

I’ve used python for data analysis and plots as you mention. And I’ve learnt C and basic numerical methoda through formal courses. I have a bit of free time at hand right now before grad school and would like to improve my numerical abilities. What book or other resources would you recommend? I want to learn algorithms that are common to most computational physics.

[brucebarnes]

I started in Fortran back in the 70's. I tried to change to c and found it very confusing so I stayed with Fortran. I like Python a lot, but it is a little slow. I have not tried c++ is it easier to learn than c? I really like Python in linux. Is there a more modern language like python with more speed?

[kim-hendrikmerk]

Do you have to work with Fortran at all? As i heard that a lot of work is present in it.