[BlackJack]

Everyone has an opinion on what language to start with, and I suspect that there is no clear answer. However, I would recommend you start with Scheme/Lisp and read "The Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs" (http://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html).

This book is a classic and outlines various fundamentals of computer science and programming. Scheme is the type of language that lets you just code without worrying about all the unnecessary things that hinder the beginner.

From there you should move to C++ so you can get used to object oriented programming and have a better idea of what "modern" languages are like, but I contest that SICP is the best book to use to start programming.

[serichsen]

+1 for SICP, but I cannot really recommend C++, since it does only pseudo object orientation (plus it has a syntax jungle from hell).

I would recommend to learn Common Lisp instead.