I would recommend Python as a first language. There are tons of users (which is very nice when you run into problems), and it's useful for all sorts of problem

I would recommend Python as a first language. There are tons of users (which is very nice when you run into problems), and it's useful for all sorts of problem domains. http://diveintopython.org/ http://diveintopython.org/ is a good place to start. (Or, if you aren't going to start learning in the immediate future, this is looking pretty promising: http://diveintopython3.org/ http://diveintopython3.org/ ) O'Reilly's "Learning Python" seems pretty decent too: http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596513986/ http://oreilly.com/catalog/9780596513986/