Want to learn Programming ... no idea where to start

[Leon]

Surprised there has been no love in this thread for Python yet.

There is a massive repository of useful guides and lessons online; more importantly there is a big community as well. PM me if you're interested in some resources.

[llama64]

I would have mentioned Python, but I haven't really used it other then in a few hello world type tutorials. It seems the equivalent of Ruby in most regards so it's a pretty solid place to start learning the basics I would imagine.

Seems a richer dev environment compared to Ruby if you're interested in more then just web coding (I know Django/etc exists, but compared to the Rails dominance... just don't get what Python offers over it for web coding).

Oh, and for what it's worth to anyone who reads this: DO NOT START LEARNING PROGRAMMING USING PHP. Just... don't. You'll learn a lot of bad habits and end up behind where you could have been if you started with a properly designed language (PHP5+ is definitely getting better, but it's just not a good tool to start with...)

[kermitology]

Totally agree with you llama64, even if C++ was the first language I learned.

Fact is, if you want to get the hang of object oriented programming, pick a language that does the things that will bog you down out of the box. It's good to know how things work at a deeper level, but not really worthwhile if you're trying to learn and don't want to get frustrated too quickly.

[endeavor]

I'm like you. I have no previous knowledge or experience with programming but am interested in learning or perhaps giving it a try. I've started with Python and I'm using http://codeacademy.com

[FlamesPuck12]

I personally started with C++ and C when I was learning but I'm not sure if I would recommend it as a first language to learn for anyone who wants to start doing web dev.

I use Python for my job and I think it's a good place to start for anyone looking to start doing web dev even though I'm not a big fan of Python.

C is really good for learning how the computing model works (e.g. memory layout, static vs dynamic alloc).

Java is probably the best to grasp object oriented patterns.

My favorite is Scala but I wouldn't recommend the language to someone who's looking to start since the strength of Scala is being able to use functional style instead of Java's imperative style. Programming using functional language requires a different mindset (than imperative) and approach to problems.