What is the best programming language to learn as an introduction to programming?

I want to start learning programming, and I was wondering what languages I should use. I've been told Java is pretty good to start out with, but I wanted a broader source of answers. A few things to base the answer on...





- I'll be doing my programming in Mac OS 10.5


- I'd prefer desktop application-style programming, but I'll do web development if it's strongly advised.


- I've dabbled a bit in Python.What is the best programming language to learn as an introduction to programming?
Objective C is really easy to start on a Mac. All you have do is pop in you OS install disc and instal Xcode dev toolsWhat is the best programming language to learn as an introduction to programming?
I strongly suggest python. Although personally I use Java, I don't think its a good place to start. Python has simple syntax and saves you a lot of hassle that can be hard for beginners. (For example, python is not ';strongly typed';; when you make a new variable, you do not need to tell python what kind of variable it is, and you can change it from an integer to a string within the program. ';strongly typed'; languages like java, C, C++ require that you declare each variable as an integer, floating point (decimal), string, etc. This becomes very important and useful when doing complicated tasks, but is annoying for beginners.)





a good book on beginning python is ';python for the absolute beginner';. I don't know how much you have ';dabbled'; in python, but I would recommend you continue there.
You should use a program called ';Game Maker'; There is a free version of it, and it is incredibly simple, you can download it from:


http://www.yoyogames.com





Also Javascript is an incredibly good language to learn too, and it comes with your computer! Some good tutorials are here


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wm7qdJX6eCc%26amp;feature=channel_page








You can learn something called ';Perl'; if you're feeling hardcore. This is pretty easy but is more obscure and unrelated to other languages, except PHP, these two would be good if you want to be a website programmer, however Perl is what is known as a ';Scripting language'; and can be used in many programs that aren't for websites.
My opinion is :


-Java (if you want to play with program that can run under multi platform)





-Fortran or C or C++ (if you want to play with high computational program)





Java also can integrate with other language.





I hope it help.
i have collected some good links for programming here (all popular languages) - around 250 sites for each.. check the link below if you are interested


http://markthispage.blogspot.com/search/鈥?/a>
If u dabbled with Python, continue, but if want spend time on web development i advice u to start learning PHP its the best.
C++


=


Code::Blocks == open source free C++ IDE


http://www.codeblocks.org/downloads/bina鈥?/a>


codeblocks-8.02-p2-mac.zip
BASIC, then Pascal, then C
basic, machine, C,C++,LISP,fortran,cobol,elp,java,