[spooneybarger]

I would say this, some languages are easier than others when it comes to helping you follow good coding practices. You can create crap in any language but some make it easier than others to write good code.

As an example, Javascript. You can write beautiful code in Javascript and it isn't that hard but to do it, you need to to understand closures. Closures aren't the easy topic for a new programmer to grasp immediately so it might not be the best language. I would say that python and ruby are better for making it easy to learn good practices compared to php, perl or javascript and would suggest either of those as a first language to start learning with. It doesn't have to be the language you stick with but both are good for getting you going. You aren't out of the woods by picking either of them but I think you will find the experience easier. Of the two, I would lean towards python as it has a very 'one proper way to do it' approach which is easy on beginners. That said, you can't go wrong with either. If you want to venture slightly further afield, both scheme and smalltalk are excellent languages to do as a first language. If either of those tickle your fancy, I would look at racket for a scheme implementation and pharo for the smalltalk. Pharo has learning tools when you fire it up and racket has a ton of learning materials.

The first two languages I learned where a Forth variant and a straight up machine language. So any language can be your first one. I realized later on that while I had learned to program, I hadn't learned to do it well and went back and studied the hows and whys which I think any of the 4 above would be very good places to start with.

EDIT:

One last note, if you decide to go with Javascript, I strongly urge you to read 'Javascript: The Good Parts' very early on in the process.