MindStorm and Scratch are great ideas. When you venture into something more real, give QuickBasic (QBasic) a shot. It was part of the Windows 95/98 Power Pack a

MindStorm and Scratch are great ideas. When you venture into something more real, give QuickBasic (QBasic) a shot. It was part of the Windows 95/98 Power Pack addon for free if you have one of the old cd's lying around and it's a great way to start. I say that because that's how I started when I was 12; found some tutorials online; has very basic functions, is text-focussed and lets you get started, fast. After; I'd move to C# since that enables you to use the friendliest IDE out of all (Visual Studio) and it's a great language and relevant to the job market now and in the forseable future.