This is a good place, but you may need to sift through conflicting opinions about which language to start with.
It depends on the language but you will get the help you need if you ask.
As you have specifically mentioned "easy" and have not mentioned a need to learn a particular language, I would suggest that Python is a good place to start. It is simple and elegant but still sufficiently powerful to create useful applications. You should already have the Python interpreter installed and you can check as follows:
In a terminal
Code:
$ python
Python 2.7.3 (default, Aug 1 2012, 05:14:39)
[GCC 4.6.3] on linux2
Type "help", "copyright", "credits" or "license" for more information.
>>> print 'Hello'
Hello
>>>
You type the parts in red, then ctrl-d to quit Python. (Hold down the control key and press 'd').
Then you can move on:
http://docs.python.org/2/tutorial/
http://www.diveintopython.net/
Good start. You should also look at other languages as well as Python. C is a base for several other languages and, in my opinion, it is good for all programmers to know at least some C because of that. Some shell scripting (Bash) is also useful. Unless you have a need to learn C++, I would suggest that you leave that language until you have a bit of experience with others.
The most important thing is to start. Although I've suggested Python, the language doesn't matter that much. Ask questions when you get stuck. Look at threads in this forum to get a feel for languages and problems.
There are beginner's programming challenges to use as little projects:
http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1714324
Outside this forum there are also other problem sites.
http://projecteuler.net/
http://www.cprogramming.com/challenge.html
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