Favorite for quick tasks: javascript, the last few years of ecmascript features make it an incredibly productive language.
Favorite for hobby stuff: rust, but with caveats. I miss default parameters, I dislike the syntax soup, the async system has too many “standards” (see xkcd on competing standards)
Favorite for work: javascript/typescript. Having my team be fully capable of working on any part of our competencies with just one language is huge. Sharing code between front end and backend, across products, and easily finding developers all make it an easy choice.
Least favorites:
Php: magic quotes? Golang: using casing to establish public vs private? Objective-C: the worst combo of every one of it’s predecessors Java: forcing the paradigm of everything is an object causes so much boilerplate Vb5/6/a: triggering a button with = True, using a single equals for both assignment and equality, callbacks are an absolute nightmare
When I started out at about 14 I found a few programming books that really helped at my local library. It’s really tough to keep motivated as a kid, but if you give him tools and help him find joy in the process he’ll push himself to the finish line.
Good on you for supporting your kid, my parents told me to get off the computer and go outside every time they “caught” me programming.