What Programming language for the beginner?

I started like many ohers with Basic long ago. Easy to get into but like learning to drive, you can get into bad habbits very quickly.

Years later when I went to University to study Computer Science and Software Engineering we were only allowed to use Pascal for the first year. A really annoying language at first as it refused to allow any bad habbits and you had to learn how to structure your programming properly. Although I really hated it like many others on my course, eventually we realised the rationale behind it. When you use a language that forces you to structure your programs properly, once you have mastered it, it really doesn't matter what language you wish to use after that, you programms will always be structured correctly and thus much easier to write and design even large complex applications.

You also have to bear in mind what you are going to be creating applications for in a couple of years when your programming skills are honed and that is likely to be the .net arena and Object Oriented so I would recommend looking at c# (C sharp), C++, j# etc. All .net languages, very structured and object oriented.

Structured Programming is not just polite or politically correct programming practice. It's about the most important programming ability and allows you to eventually create strong and easily written applications no matter what their size or complexity.

Good point about Pascal and structured programming. I had a similar experience starting off with BASIC on my Commodore 64 and later GWBASIC on an IBM XT clone, before encountering Pascal for the first time in University. It took some adjustment, but the benefits have carried on into other languages I've since used.

yes i agree with you all. i really fancy learning basic and pascal and even assembly which even now got its importance. and cant comment the importance of perl, cause the demand of perl now. And regarding the c as it was my first programming language and then c++ that i learned years ago. i still dont regret about the time i spent it. cause when i was in uni they gave us to do my project in vc++ which most of my class- mates did not have a clue about it. so i had a pretty good advantage over them. which in turn helped me a lot. if anyone want's to get into serious programming then should should have knowledge of basics i dont want to say which one to go, as most of our members gave theirs opinions which are very helful in deciding that.

i think, we just cant pick which is good or best prog lang. every programming language got its own importance and benefits. so it depends upon the requirement and its usability,functionality and robostness. (:lol:)