@lizardsquid Agreed. Python is probably a good one to start with, in my opinion.

But then, I taught myself how to program on a TI-84 in TI-BASIC so what do I know

@Felthry I don't enjoy python at all, but I agree that it's an ok language to start with - it's what I started with, sort of

@lizardsquid It's very different, but it's easy to learn. Maybe lua would be better as a starting language? I've heard good things about Ruby's ease-of-learning too

@Felthry I'm one of the weirdos who wants people to start with lisp...

I think ruby is easier to get the hang of than python, and gives you a few more options.

although tbh, I'd prefer people learnt C as a first language than Java

@lizardsquid Ew, not java as a first language, definitely not.

Lisp is a language I've heard good things about but never done anything with myself.

@Felthry the thing that makes lisp relatively easy to learn - once you understand a function, everything builds on that. Unlike a procedural language, where you have to learn instructions and loops and functions and ...

@lizardsquid If you want a functional language, though, why lisp as opposed to say Haskell?

@Felthry I'd much prefer to teach people haskell! I just say lisp because I've had some really negative reactions (mostly from people who don't use haskell) when I've said "haskell is a good first language"