I think a great way to learn programming is to start with the simplest languages. Start with Scheme. It doesn't even have proper objects and classes, so you'll

I think a great way to learn programming is to start with the simplest languages. Start with Scheme. It doesn't even have proper objects and classes, so you'll be forced (guided, actually, if you go the SICP route) to implement them yourselves. This teaches you in an elegant way about essential concepts in programming, but manages to keep your head clear and unbiased about the many different ways to do things, whereas a language with a strong fundamental paradigm (i.e. Java) may bias you forever. Then learn C. It couldn't be more different from Scheme, but that's a good thing. It forces you to think about things you thought you didn't reaaly have to think about - such as memory allocation. With a solid basis in these two languages, you've covered just about every paradigm or building block of programming languages you can imagine. Learning another language then becomes trivial, and for bonus points, you'll be a lot better programmer at those languages too.