P$(D??(B Wed, 14 Feb 2007 00:29:11 +0100, skrev Ivan Marsh <annoyed@you.now>:

> On Tue, 13 Feb 2007 17:57:43 -0500, Tom Lake wrote:
>
>>>> I am very interested in learning programming. However I am having
>>>> trouble starting, I need advice as to which language would be the best
>>>> for a beginner to start with and where I may find the tools needed to
>>>> start.......literature.....compilers...etc.
>>>>
>>>> Thanks in advance
>>>> Ben
>>
>> BASIC is still a great language for an easy introduction to programming.
>> One super version is at:
>
> Ick... I, unfortunately, learned BASIC as my first language. Don't bother
> learning all those things you will have to unlearn. If you start with a
> language with a global variable scope, no functions and is built around
> using goto you're going to have a hard time making the transition to a
> language that thinks all of those things are blaspheme.
>
> As others have said, start with C/C++ or Java. Your first programs don't
> have to be overly complicated and everything you learn in a C-like
> language translates to every other C-like language out there.
>
> Once you get the logic behind loops and conditional statements it's all
> about syntax, no matter what language you're using.

I strongly recommend that the child starts with no less then assembly  
programming.
There is no tool as happy to go where the playful mind of a child would  
like to go, than an assembler. Do not polute a childs mind with the  
abominations of C, C++ and or C# or absurdities like Java.

The one i am using, and that I recommend is RosAsm.

< http://betov.free.fr/RosAsm.html >

If he goes this route, he will be teaching you guys a thing or two, in  
less then a few months. In a few years, he will be laughing his head of at  
you gays, woundering what went wrong with you.

:))