JavaScript would definitely be my #2 choice to recommend to someone who wants to program. One of the problems with JS used to be that there weren't any even hal

JavaScript would definitely be my #2 choice to recommend to someone who wants to program. One of the problems with JS used to be that there weren't any even half-decent "Learn to program with JavaScript" books until Marijn Haverbeke's (who also happens to be a prolific Lisp hacker) Eloquent JavaScript (http://eloquentjavascript.net/ http://eloquentjavascript.net/) came out. It's a very solid introductory book. HTML5 Canvas is also awesome - IMO it's the most convenient way for beginners to do computer graphics in any "real world" programming environment/language.