Programming: Beginner Plebian

Learn the basics of C: control flows, functions, arrays, pointers and a bit of structures. It has other themes but you can skip them if you like. Then go for C++ or Java.
There is a lot of stuff about C, I liked "The C Programming Language". Then you can read the Bruce Eckel books.

>>285475
Just a simple thing I want to also know about, why do schools and other learning programs have everyone start out with Javascript?

>>285478
What schools? I've never heard of people starting with Javascript anywhere. Most of them start with C or Python (ez modo)

Hey there bud, if you want to get deep into the programming/CS thing then C is a fine place to start. If you just want to learn one language so you can do stuff, then I'd recommend something like Python, which is pretty straightforward for a first language and has libraries for whatever you might want to do. Plus the documentation is very accessible for beginners

Java is what high school courses in the US usually start with, and while you can debate its efficacy as a starting language, it's certainly popular and honestly not a terrible choice

A common frustration among students of C is that they feel they know how to program but can't actually /make/ something. Javascript (unrelated to java) is getting more common as a first language on online courses like codeacademy, and it's definitely useful since you can use it to manipulate elements on a web page

If we knew more about what you want to do, it might be easier to recommend a certain language, but any of these is probably fine. Once you know one, learning more becomes much easier, so don't think you're locking yourself in with one tool. good luck and follow your heart

>>285481
A couple of schools/classes in my county offer Javascript as a beginner language to start. I have no idea why since I heard it's easier to start with python.

>>285475
By the way thanks for the information!

>>285502
Thank you!

Just my two cents here. I believe it's better for a beginner to start with a scripting language (like PHP, Python or even Javascript, though JS is a clusterfuck) rather than a more robust language like C or Java. The reason being, when you're starting out you really don't want to worry about pointers, segfaults etcetera. You want to learn control flow, how to "think" in terms of a sequence of steps to solve a problem, and so on. It's true that Java keeps you from having to deal with things like pointers but you're still very much forced to deal with OOP all the way through.

You can check out Python which is very beginner friendly. PHP is also quite easy to pick up. Don't be deterred if you don't know how to make websites, as long as you know how to display some information and send information back to the server (i.e. create a form) that should be good enough. As for javascript, you could check out the P5js library, it's an offshoot of the Processing library which is like an environment for programming visual things.

>>285552
>It's true that Java keeps you from having to deal with things like pointers
No it's not: the only way to reference an Object is through a pointer; everything that's not a primitive is a pointer to an object, and >90% of the variables in any non-trivial Java program will be pointers.

The difference is that Java's pointers are type-checked, so you can't add one to a pointer that isn't into an array, you can't walk off the end of an array by accident, you can't point them to types they aren't, etc. etc.

But anything you can validly do to a pointer in C you can do to a pointer in Java, and all the mistakes you can do with valid use of pointers in C you can also make in Java. The only things you can't do are the things that aren't valid in C but happen to work anyway.

But if you don't understand pointers, you won't understand Java, and you'll be perpetually baffled by stuff like

void foo (StringBuffer s) {
s.append("This gets returned");
s=new StringBuffer ("not this");
}
s = new StringBuffer ();
foo(s);
System.out.println(s);

Schools start you off with Java 80% of the time.
JavaScript gets weird.
Ruby is fun but simple.

Python is the best language to start with IMO, unless you're looking into Arduino and physical applications in which case C/C++ is the way to go.

>>285503
I think you may be confusing Javascript with just plain Java. My school made us start with Java, and I've heard of other schools that do too.

>>285463
>Which language should I start on

C++

>Also, [is] there any sort of online pdfs referencing this language

http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=0310F3CD20C160F0738F75124D000F05
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=791C7279F48D04226CA154A5FAF25707
http://gen.lib.rus.ec/book/index.php?md5=B2B3394D743218EAD5DBD0403168D7D4