This is a pretty open question. Who is learning and what do you want to program? If your an adult starting out, I would go for popularity over easiest. Python

This is a pretty open question. Who is learning and what do you want to program? If your an adult starting out, I would go for popularity over easiest. Python or C, as you most likely have the ability to work through one of the many tutorials without needing immediate gratification. If you are asking for a kid that is completely new to programming. I would suggest buying them a spirograph. When they get bored with that hit them with LOGO and follow that with scratch. If your trying to learn how to run a 3d printer, laser cutter or CNC machine. It would be far better to jump into the Arduino C environment. In the late 70s early 80s there was an awesome toy called Big Trak that got kids thinking with a programming mindset maybe there is a new modern version available these days. If you want to kearn how to program in ML or AI, i would suggest learning graph theory....