I second that. I have learnt quite a lot of programing languages this past two years (C++, Java, Haskell, Lisp, and Python), and Python has been the easiest to

I second that. I have learnt quite a lot of programing languages this past two years (C++, Java, Haskell, Lisp, and Python), and Python has been the easiest to learn, by far. It is fast and easy to have your Python system up and running, and you'll soon get things done in Python. So for an absolute beginner, I sure recommend Python. Now the downside for Python, is that imho, it starts to be boring after a while. Don't get me wrong, it is a "powerful language" (meaning that being high level, you can do a lot of things easily) and there are many libraries, so it is still my "production" language. But I have found a lot more fun in Lisp and Haskell as they tend to stimulate my brain much harder. But I will not suggest it as a first experience (especially not Haskell).. Hope it helps,