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python
lots of materials on the net. Nice, easy and funny course on coursera:
https://www.coursera.org/course/interactivepython1
https://www.coursera.org/course/interactivepython2

All of them.

Actually, best way to get into stuff like that is find opensource mods and try to help. One: you get experience, two: builds resume, three: you can learn from peers more easily, 4: start to network with other people.

First instance; XCOM 2012 was modded (over long time) and a group developed Long war mod, which has been consistently mentioned by the developers and ultimately driving force to allow completely open modding for their upcoming sequel, XCOM 2. You can be sure a lot of those modders networked, built a solid resume, and learned a lot of stuff by reverse engineering a game that was quite closed to modding.

So... find a modding community of a game you enjoy, and start modding it; showing it off; working with other modders to combine works or try to team up for larger modding.

With Java you have the advantage of cross-platform compatibility out of the box, not just android, but also things like Mac and Linux, something that (at least when I learnt programming, there might be compilers out there that can simplify things these days) was not easily doable with C++.

One question is what "level" you want to work at? In C++ you need to do pretty much all the work yourself, which is harder than some of the more high level languages. Code written in C++ will be more effective though (and more effective than Java as well), meaning that it will be less demanding on your system.

And learning a programming language is not a bad idea. While I don't do any programming on my spare time, and my job is not directly related to programming (I'm a chemical engineer), I've actually had a lot of use for my old programming skills.

Can't help with that cause i don't know programming... yet.
But you can make easy Android games with Unity and if the idea is good you can earn some money from that.

Check lynda .com, they have a very good course for beginners. http://m.lynda.com/Developer-Programming-Foundations-tutorials/Foundations-Programming-Fundamentals/83603-2.html

Perl :3 Its the duct tape of the internet.

I would say that it depends on what are you going to program, c and python are extremly powerful and will require hard work...
http://9gag.com/gag/anXEbe0/if-programming-languages-were-weapons

I recommend C, then C++. Then you can go with Java and Javascript. And finally with PHP & Python.

C and C++ is very deep and not easy but if you learn them first, it will help you with other languages.

Don't forget to check out https://www.codecademy.com/
Even though C++ is most universal language I think it is very hard for a person with 0 programming experience. I would start with something like Java.

Probably start Java and C++, some basic stuff.

+1 to the lynda.com suggestion. Learn a little about programming concepts before diving head-first into a specific programming language and trying to code in it. Once you have a sense of how programming works, it will be easier to look at and learn from other people's code, then write some yourself.

I don't think C or C++ are good first programming languages. Java's a little better, especially if you think you may want to develop something for the Android platform, but I still don't think it's a great first language. Python or JavaScript are pretty generally useful for web applications. Maybe take a look at any job opportunities in your area and see what requirements they have. What kind of developers are they looking for?

I agree that ideally you could try to find a community where you can enter as a newbie, ask questions, and receive some guidance from experienced programmers-- plus you can learn a lot just by looking at their code. It just sounds like an awfully lonely and frustrating endeavor to learn a complex programming language starting from ground zero-- completely by yourself. Modding and the like can be a good way to learn some programming while you're doing something you enjoy, but ultimately you want to find the most marketable skill in your geographic area-- assuming that the end goal is a job of some kind.

I don't know your background, education, other interests, available computing resources, or any of that, so that could influence my thinking on the topic. But it's admirable that you want to help your family and very brave of you to embark on this endeavor. Best of luck.

I would say Java, unless you want some really fast turnaround for getting into game developing.

Java is a great learning language and there are tons of material for learning it. It's a good starting language as it's similar enough to most child languages of C. If you are looking for jobs outside game developing Java is still a pretty good language to know, more useful than C++ outside gaming I'd say just from what I see searching for programming related jobs. After you are comfortable with Java you can easily transition to say C# (Unity uses C# or JS) or start learning C++ (the syntax varies more with C++ from Java, but that's all you'll be relearning, the rest of the ideas are there that you learned from programming in Java).

If you are looking to do work outside gaming as well in the field of programming, after you master Java (or whichever language you end up choosing), don't shy away from learning some of the languages and technologies that are part of the .NET framework.

I think you should start with JavaScript, it is the most used programming language and that may help you get something to do with it quick.

C and C++ are universal but could prove very tough to handle at first if you are new to programming (pointers will give you headaches). If you want to learn a similar language (sintaxis) , learn C# or Java as it will be easier to debug than the other two.

I personally started with Pascal to learn and Java for 2 years afterwards.

Hope you do well!!

Start with the 5 main ones. C, C++, java, Python, and BASIC

Try Python.

I suppose if I were to start learning programming today, I'd go with Codecademy. I've only tried it a little but it seems like a great concept, interactive learning as opposed to the traditional way where you read a book. Now, a slight problem there is that Codecademy is oriented towards web languages, but I don't think that's a big problem, and let me tell you why.

When you learn programming for the first time, you're actually learning two things: general programming concepts and the specific syntax and features of whatever language you're learning. So once you have a firm grasp of programming concepts on an abstract level, learning another language is much easier than learning your first language.

I wouldn't really recommend C++ as a first language because it's relatively low-level (meaning you spend a lot of time working on various details instead of the big picture) and pretty complex, meaning there are many ways to shoot yourself in the foot. The other side of the coin is that it's fast/efficient, which is why it's widely used in game development. But even if you want to get into game development (I don't think you mentioned which field you wanted to go into), I'd probably recommend you learn programming in something easier, and once you have a firm grasp of the basics, switch to C++ and learn all the differences it brings to the table. Otherwise, it would probably be wise to go with whatever language is in greatest demand in job ads (probably C# or Java for business apps or something webby for the web). EDIT: With that said, stay well away from Basic in any of its forms, it's old and horrible :D (although Visual Basic in its .Net version is better, but if you want to do .Net, C# is a much better choice).

EDIT: I forgot to add, whatever language you end up choosing, Google is your friend, and especially Stack Overflow. Also, you need to practice a lot, but read other people's code as well, and compare your solutions to theirs. It's a long and hard road, but once you master it, you'll see how great it is :)

Perl, Python or lua if you want to start off with scripting languages (lua likes to show up in a number of game engines)

Java or C# for more ambitious work - where C# comes with the warning that you'll limit yourself to Windows. From there to C++.
Reason for that order is mostly so you can get a feel for the syntax before having to learn everything there is to know about memory management and how doing that wrong leads to stuff blowing up.

And in my opinion, seriously fuck JavaScript. Lack of standard libraries means you pretty much have to find a pre-existing framework of choice to get anything done quickly (or build your own), lack of strong-typing, precompiling etc. makes it nearly impossible to catch mistakes before they go live. Writing a more complex program that sort-of works can be done quickly, getting it to run proprely under all circumstances takes more time than doing it in real Java.

both Java and C# are the best entry point for learnning to program.

both have tons of documentation out there, both are realtive simple to grasp, and both are similar so when you learn one theres only smal differences to the other one.

C# is mostly used for .NET and big programs, and Java is also very capable of doind the same stuff too, C# is just more popular for some reason.

offcouse Java has the huge plus of beeing the language thats used for Android, so if you want to make apps, theres no better option.

i leanerd both is college, if i have to chose one i would go with Java, it is a bit fidli to setup but is just a couple of instalations.

instead of eyeballing a language you should ask yourself if you are good at math and logic, software engineering is not called engineering because it sounds nice :P, just saiyan.

it is posible to make some money out of small apps, and programs, not a lot, i charged 1200$ for a restaurant/inventory/facturation(is that a word?) system, and 800$ for an app recently, it was a moth and a half of hard work around 12h workdays.

Start with Python. If you want to go into game development, learn C++ after that. Your second programming language will come much faster than your first, and Python is probably the easier language to learn.

Just a simple bump..

C#

Unfortunately, the only programming experience I have was in 8th grade, which would be 1994. I've always wanted to learn it, but much like creating websites, I've never had a reason to bother. The sky is the limit for me, once I find a reason to care, but that's the hard part.

I heard that Ruby is good for starters, but I never liked it to be honest...

sry that's a case i can't help you, but maybe I'll start learning too, they say it's never too late to learn something useful