Good Starting Language?

[Dinatius]

Hi there, everyone.
So, I've been thinking about really learning a programming language these past few months, especially as the possibility of me going back for an IT/Networking/CompSci related degree once I graduate from my current program becomes more likely.

So, I just thought I'd ask, where is a good place to start?
Now, I should warn you: when it comes to anything tech related, I really have to see results from what I'm doing, and useable results, too.
So suggesting "start with Basic and work your way up" probably won't work for me.

But by the same token, I'm not sure it would be a good idea for me to plunge into a more technical language, with only a snippet of XHTML under my belt.

So, I'm just looking for suggestions, and possibly some good books any of you might know of.

Thanks in advance!

[Sunon]

That's a tough question to answer, you could always go for php. It allows you to do many things very easily, including database, web, and object oriented programming. I would recommend c or java as well since so many languages use similar constructs as those two. They are good foundational languages to learn even if you don't use them all the time.

[Anthon]

I would certainly investigate what are the computer languages used at the programs for the degree you consider doing after your current program. In my experience learning the first language is more difficult then the second, third etc because most of the time you just have to map the concepts/syntax of one language to another. (And some languages are more similar than others in that respect).
So picking the language used for teaching at the institution is not a bad idea.

After learning and using 10+ languanges over a period of 15 years I came across Python and that appealed to my sense of estethics, cleanness and power (It is a semi-compiled language so for high speed stuff I use C/C++, often to extend Python). I would certainly recommend to pick up Python (as a second language at least). Every engineer who worked for me and who I forced to use Python has thanked me for that (afterwards, initialy there often was resistance to learning a new language).
http://www.python.org
http://docs.python.org/tutorial/index.html
Are good starting points.

[Jiraiya_sama]

Assembly. It's one of the easiest, highest level languages around. It's also extremely portable.

[dodle]

I am a beginner programmer. I wanted to learn C++ but it was coming difficultly. I took up Python which was easier for me to pick up and, since it is a C-like language, has helped me with C++. Ruby looks like it might be fairly easy to learn as well, but I don't know how popular it is.

Assembly. It's one of the easiest, highest level languages around. It's also extremely portable.

Assembly is a language? I had no idea, I heard the term quite often but thought it was only associated with programming.

[ghostdog74]

So, I'm just looking for suggestions, and possibly some good books any of you might know of.

Read the STICKIES!!!

[txcrackers]

Now, I should warn you: when it comes to anything tech related, I really have to see results from what I'm doing, and useable results, too.
So suggesting "start with Basic and work your way up" probably won't work for me.

Then I would strongly suggest that a CompSci program would not hold your interest - you will rarely be able to get instant results.

[nmccrina]

assembly. It's one of the easiest, highest level languages around. It's also extremely portable.

+1

[nvteighen]

Read the stickies.

You need something that makes you learn first how to program. For that, you need a language that isn't hard to learn (otherwise, you'll be facing two problems instead of one). In my opinion, the best for this are Python and Scheme (a Lisp dialect).

But, you should see what your degree's requirements are. If they ask you to learn C++, then you might have to learn it parallelwise to the other starting language you choose... The ideal would be not to do that, but sometimes reality is harder than ideality

[ashmew2]

Then I would strongly suggest that a CompSci program would not hold your interest - you will rarely be able to get instant results.

+1..

"Rome was not built in a day.."