If you wanna learn java, just youtube thenewboston, quick 5-10 min videos that teach you basics to complex things
https://thenewboston.com/

Take a look at this website: https://teamtreehouse.com/

Try the 7 day free trial and see how it goes. It's a fantastic website to learn programming languages. There's a large library of courses with videos created by treehouse teachers. It's also got a pretty neat achievement system which keeps you going.

I assume you would like to do some web development so have a go at Javascript, CSS, PHP and also expanding your knowledge on HTML5.

Also what's the difference between Java and JavaScript

I also recommend the newboston tutorials. They are great and filled with lots of examples too.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_9lfHjYtVg&list=PL0EE421AE8BCEBA4A
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=48146

"Java creates applications that run in a virtual machine or browser while JavaScript code is run on a browser only. Java code needs to be compiled while JavaScript code are all in text."
https://www.java.com/en/download/faq/java_javascript.xml

http://lmgtfy.com/?q=java+vs+javascript

they are very different but in terms of uses basically java is used for standalone applications and javascript is used for web applications (websites, browser extensions, etc).

If it's your first programming language - learn easy languages (maybe web) like a PHP, JavaScript, Python. First my programming language - C#. I start learn it and I can't understand how and why some shit works. It's was too hard for me and I forget about it. After I see one video-tutorial about very easy soft for developming programs. It's was a Desktop PHP (Devel Studio). I start learn it and it's was hard and easy in one. It's was hard cuz I had no idea how and why and what I shoud write and bla-bla and etc. But I understand some moments unlike with C#. After 1.5 years of learning I almost perfectly know desktop and web PHP. And few mounth ago I again download Visual Studio and start learn C#. And it's was REALLY easy for me. It's only cuz I understand HOW it's works. You just need first learn something easy and after you can easy learn any other lauguages. Sry for my inglecsh C:
P.S. - Only practice and some video-tutorials. Books and full video-learning are useless bullshit (my opinion)
P.P.S - http://www.w3schools.com

One is essentially a toy, designed for writing small pieces of code, and traditionally used and abused by inexperienced programmers.

The other is a scripting language for web browsers.

Thats not a very good explanation of the difference and incorrect nowadays with non browser JS (node.js/electron/etc), and further Java in the browser is the worst

They are simply different programming languages, theres plenty of articles out there outlining the differences

Python has always seemed to be to be the commonly used language best suited for beginners to me, though I might be a bit biased towards it because it's used quite a lot in the sciences.

Some people suggest starting with languages like C because they think it makes you a better programmer. Nah, fuck that. Especially if you're just doing it for fun

http://www.teamfortress.tv/23369/programming#3
http://www.teamfortress.tv/post/481797/i-want-to-learn-programming

C# all the way baby

Java is a good language to start with. Javascript is also nice but I think you'll start to hit oddities in the language much earlier than java where things work as you expect most of the time and the syntax/code style doesn't differ as much as in javascript. C# is a good option but you really need visual studio to do anything decent in it and it obscures the build process from you which I think is a good thing to have at first.

For tutorials and stuff I see code academy recommended all the time.

If you are looking for practical languages there are 2 I can recommend. Java is fairly simple and intuitive and its development environments are really nice (NetBeans). Although, if you are looking for something slightly more powerful but 100 times more of a pain in the ass, I would recommend C. C is simple to start off, but complicated tasks get astronomically harder. Personally, Java is the easiest practical language to learn, and you can make some pretty cool stuff with NetBeans GUI builder.

Codecademy is a great place to start, this will teach you some of the basics. I also second papasmurf's post, there's great resources in those links. For me, I always start with picking a problem or task that I want to make easier or an idea that I have and seeing how I can use the tools that I have to accomplish it. Similar to a jigsaw puzzle, knowing the end result that you want to get to (the picture on the box) and then fiddling around with the pieces to make it all fit together.

Take a look at automatetheboringstuff. It's a python guide that gets you rolling with some small projects after a relatively short introduction to the language. Good stuff and gets you into the practical uses of programming languages.

https://www.c64-wiki.com/images/c/c9/Einschaltmeldung_C64.jpg

It depends on what you want to achieve.
If you are interested in web development and you have understood the basics of HTML and CSS, then the next logical step is JavaScript. If you want to learn the basics of programming and you want it to be simple and fun, then I would recommend Python.

You can use this infographic to decide which language you should learn first:

http://carlcheo.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/which-programming-language-should-i-learn-first-infographic.png

More info and resources: http://carlcheo.com/startcoding

Yeah because Java is totally only used by people just learning programming and not, you know, used to program android apps or on an enterprise level in the form of J2EE

It's a long-running joke in computer science.

http://stackoverflow.com/questions/245062/whats-the-difference-between-javascript-and-java

Second answer down.

I've had a little experience with python and java before but not too much. I was attempting the same thing as OP recently, with C++, and goddamn I had trouble with codeblocks and getting anything involving the compiler to work. I think I might switch to trying to fully learn Java or Python since I never had any problems getting those set up, and I guess I'm really bad at working with IDE's or whatever they're called.

These are the languages I've learned over the years, and my experience with them.

• Java - might be your easiest route. It's also what I learned to program with first. You can just download a simple editor to compile and run console applications. And it'll just work. JGrasp is a good example of a really basic editor that won't confuse you with all the crazy components
  
• C++ or C# - are comparable to Java, but (I think) are slightly less accessible. Can easily cause issues for newer programmers because you can (from time to time) run into compiler errors that won't make any sense. Anything relating to them usually comes with the expectation that you're using Visual Studio. And, although it might not really matter to you now, Microsoft's documentation is fucking awful. However, I can't stress enough how important I think it is that you learn about "pointers." Java doesn't have pointers, (can't remember if C# doesn't either) but C++ and C# do. They're a concept you should know if you're a programmer.
  
• Visual Basic - Very, very simple. Very easy to learn. But the language is so simplified that it hides some of the important things you can do in languages like Java and C++. So you may not get the kind of general introduction to programming that lets you branch out to other languages. Comparable to Python in some ways, although I haven't done much python.
  
• JavaScript - Pretty simple language, about as difficult as any other common programming language. But it can be confusing because using it is a little more... involved? It's hard to explain what I mean. While some might disagree with me, I look at JavaScript as being similar to C in terms of having some required prior-knowledge. In other words, I think there are things you should understand and have experience with before you can start messing with either of them effectively.
  
• C - See what I wrote about JavaScript.

I can't speak on behalf of PHP, Ruby, or whatever else

If you just want to make some software or very simple game, go for java. C# is essentially microsofts clone of java; learning one will teach you the other.
C++ is extremely difficult to learn as it is so vast. You definitely want to be proficient at java/C# before you go into that. It is really a peak in terms of extremely useful and extremely difficult.

C/python are mainly used to interact with hardware. So if youre just building a piece of software stay away from these. If you want to start on hardware projects you can always buy a Raspberry Pi and start coding in python or an Arduino and start coding in C/C++. Python is much easier to learn than C in my experience. They can be fun if you like making little toys and peripherals.

If you however want to get into making web apps I'd strongly suggest javascript. It is gaining A LOT of traction. A lot of stuff is built with PHP, but many are just moving over to javascript. Also HTML is technically not a programming language in some contexts, so you probably have a lot more to learn here.

If you don't really want to do anything and you like being clever I'd suggest Haskell, Scheme, and Prolog. They can be fun to play around with in your spare time.

Are you taking the piss m8

https://www.microsoft.com/en-za/download/details.aspx?id=34794
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/dd831853.aspx
-----C# section: https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/kx37x362.aspx
http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/w0x726c2.aspx

e: the

You either have rather unusual interests or meant "taking the piss".

This graph sort of blew my mind. And while javascript is unavoidable as the only client side language for web apps, if you're looking for server side alternatives to PHP I think there is a lot more to consider than javascript. IMO, Java or Python would be better choices to learn since they are also more useful languages in general. Personally I like Go quite a bit, but it's also not too useful outside of writing web apps. With that said, I think writing websites quickly became very anti-newbie friendly ever since web apps became the norm over static pages. Writing for the web is a mess and I don't recommend it as a starting point.

@OP, I haven't seen it recommended a single time yet, but I've found reading textbooks more helpful than any lecture I've had and definitely better than any of these websites that try to teach you. You'll get way better foundations and be better off in the end. Try researching the top books for whichever language you end up picking, you can usually find any textbook online for free on university websites.

http://www.it-ebooks.info/

I'm not really sure what you're implying by asking if I'm taking a piss. I'm sorry you disagree with me, and your experience is different from mine. Thanks for linking those downloads, I'm sure I'll find them helpful in the future.

Ruby is cool. I have a sticker.

I haven't checked them out yet, but trinket.io has some free python lessons. Their mini IDE is kinda neat too.

I'm newish to CS and haven't branched out much beyond C++, LaTeX, and a bit of python, but what everyone tells me is that if I can get used to C++, everything else will seem easy... haha