Ideally a programming language would be selected to match the task at hand.

1. What are you trying to achieve?

2. What skills do you have already?

You should strive to get a good grasp of programming concepts before you get too involved in any particular language. It's good to be language agnostic, and learn important concepts such as object-oriented programming, functional programming, relational databases, etc. That way picking up any language is just a matter of getting to grips with it's syntax (and quirks).

Yes like the others, it depends.

If you want to program web applications, start with php, then add in ajax and javascript, css and a few other things.

If you want to write desktop applications you'll need to learn
Python or C or C++, and a good framework/GUI toolkit (Qt, wxWidgets??)

There's a lot of choice - driven mainly by want you want to create.

Kind regards, Spencer

I say go with php as you will have mostly conquered two realms at once since php is basically the C programming language ported to the server you will double your usefulness. If will give you a base of understanding programming for computers as well as the internet.

Martin

I recommend 2:
- PHP -> wordpress -> codeigniter = killer web apps
- Real Basic = multi platform

Real basic is the best

For a beginner, learning PHP 5 is the quickest way to go for web programming. Trying to get your head around the object orientated stuff is the biggest hurdle, but well worth the effort. For anything from quick hacks to Flickr, It Just Works.

For desktop programming, I use Runtime Revolution (Runtime Revolution) which is great for desktop applications. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux.

If you really want to learn how to program and try a general language that does nearly everything, try Ruby. It is a beautiful thing to use, one of the best designed programming languages I know.
I have used it to desktop apps and also build web applications using a toolkit called Ruby on Rails and it beats the pants off some of the PHP stuff out there. Some useful links:

Ruby Programming Language
Ruby on Rails

The most bizarre, entertaining and informative introduction to programming on the web - The Poignant Guide to Ruby (with cartoon foxes!)....

Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby

For a beginner, learning PHP 5 is the quickest way to go for web programming. Trying to get your head around the object orientated stuff is the biggest hurdle, but well worth the effort. For anything from quick hacks to Flickr, It Just Works.

For desktop programming, I use Runtime Revolution (Runtime Revolution) which is great for desktop applications. It runs on Windows, Mac and Linux.

If you really want to learn how to program and try a general language that does nearly everything, try Ruby. It is a beautiful thing to use, one of the best designed programming languages I know.
I have used it to desktop apps and also build web applications using a toolkit called Ruby on Rails and it beats the pants off some of the PHP stuff out there. Some useful links:

Ruby Programming Language
Ruby on Rails

The most bizarre, entertaining and informative introduction to programming on the web - The Poignant Guide to Ruby (with cartoon foxes!)....

Why's (Poignant) Guide to Ruby

I assume since you're posting in this forum yo have an interest in programming web sites or web applications. If this is the case your best bet is to learn PHP, and then move on to JavaScript.

To begin you will probably want to learn HTML. Technically HTML is not a programming language (it's a markup language) but the structure of HTML is essentially the same as PHP, so knowing some HTML will make understanding PHP a lot easier.

Some great resources on the web, the W3 Schools comes to mind but there is just so much.

Good Luck

Bill

as you are a beginner you shouled start with the language c. then slowly move on to c++ if once you have enough control ove c language
after that you can try to learn simple programming and coding techniques using visual basic

you can start with html also i.e. hyper text mark up language
i think it will be very useful in designing the web pages

In my experience I think that C++ is the easiest language to learn. Others dont but to me it is definately the easiest.