I want to learn a programming language. Where should I start, and can you recommend some books?

I've been interested in computers for a while. Now I'm getting in to them. I'm building my own computer -had to RMA the motherboard but will be replacing it soon- and I'm going to learn a little FORTRAN soon as part of an astrophysics class.

I honestly have no idea what I'd do with said programming language, but I'd like to know how computers tick. I'm 15 so my budget isn't that big. I'd like to have a book, because I'm kind of obsessed with printed matter.

A few years ago I tried to learn Python, but I never got very far.

I'd like to be able to make some money, so what can I do that could become profitable?

My current computer sucks -can't even play Portal with all the specs turned down- but my new computer will have plenty of power, so I can play with whatever shiny stuff said programming language will offer.

What do you guys recommend?

The comment above about learning how to program is spot on. Once you know how to program and understand the concepts, the knowledge is pretty well transferable to all languages.

A great place for you to start might be GameMaker. It allows you to build the logic for computer games visually... then when you get more advanced you can add in code using a built in script language that is very similar to C / C++. A book is available to go with this program. It is only $20 bucks to register it. Check out the first link below.

My son has "thrown" together a handful of freeware games using GameMaker and you can take a look at those at WigPigs (second link).

If you are interested in building interactive websites, look into learning PHP & MySQL (will require a webhosting service that supports these - most do). Both PHP and MySQL are open source so your only cost would be webhosting.

I have a commercial service (online student newspapers) that is build entirely using PHP & MySQL plus a little javascript here and there... (third link shows a live site running on the software).

Even though you have tried Python, you might want to give it a second chance. I have a fairly successful commercial (shareware) educational game that is written in Python and uses a number of open source Python libraries (fourth link).

Making money: Well that is going to depend as much or more on the idea and whether it meets any needs that people might have. If you create a decent quality educational game / program, I might be willing to market it for you.

You can learn .NET or JAVA
and you can download many ebooks at
http://www.netbks.com/

Well, here's the rub... You don't need to a learn a language, you need to learn how to program. Learning a language is just syntax and semantics. If you know *how* to code well, you simply need to write code in that given language.

Now, that being said, the biggest "trendy" language nowadays is Java. However, if you learn Java first, you are missing out on memory management as the JVM does all of that for you. I would suggest you learn C or C++ (or both) first, paying special attention to pointers and how to use them, and then move on to Java. There are a lot of books on the subject, just head to your local bookstore and pick the one that looks prettiest to you ;-)

Good luck!

the best thing is to do is to take it a step at a time. first understand the concept of pesudocode. so learn pseudocde first then slowly get aquainted wit a siple language such as C or C++. then after u can move on to java or vbm.net. dont try to just learn a language in the middle stage. start wit the basics and then develope. i'm doing a bachalors in computer and thats is how i started. and now i'm already writing my own programs for fun and if the oppertunity arises i do it for a little cash. hope i helped, gluck wit learning programming. =)

http://www.hitmill.com/programming/realb...

http://www.cprogramming.com/books.html

http://forum.microchip.com/tm.aspx?m=266...

Definitely, the best and most straight forward way to learn programming languages on the net, is http://w3schools.com/

They have everything you need. I use it for work all the time... it's just great !!

They have all you need for web programming. There you can learn all the languages you need to do websites and make some money :)