[firat]

I suggest Learn Code the Hard Way by Zed A. Shaw (http://learncodethehardway.org/). It's online, it's free and it's brilliant. I'd suggest him to go with Python as his first language.

If he wants to be a good programmer, he should be able to pick up languages rather quickly after he learns his first one. So switching language is not an issue. Keep in mind though, learning the first one will take some time.

[gexla]

Yeah, this is a great option. In fact, run the full gauntlet. Zed mentioned in the blog that you could start out with Python, hit the SQL and Regex books and then move to C. By this time he might have the objective C book done and you could hit that one also. At this point you pretty much know what you need to know for building both web and mobile apps.