I am quite new to programming, but am interesting in learning. What I don't know is what programming language would be good to start off with. Here's what I'm looking for:
I am not looking to build a bot or anything like that. Although I might be interested in making a few simple games, I'm not interested in learning something that can only be used for games. It has to be a program that can do many math calculations such as using logarithms. I am looking for a language that's not incredibly hard to learn for a beginner. Basically, I want to learn a language that I can program some cool/interesting things on. Sorry if this description is a bit vague. I tried programing a few basic things in vbs a few months ago and enjoyed it, but found that there's not a ton I could do on it. I am looking for something slightly more sophisticated, and since I have time this summer I want to learn how to program. I did also learn how to program on a graphing calculator this year, but there's very little that can be done on a calculator, and I want to learn a programing language for a computer.
I would really appreciate it if someone who has done programing in multiple languages could suggest a language and explain why or list some pros/cons of different programing languages.
Also, if anyone could suggest a good way to learn a programming language (besides taking a course on it which i can't do) that would be useful. At the moment, I'm thinking of buying a book online that's a beginners guide to whatever language I go with and learning it that way.
Thanks for the help.

if you're already comfortable with vbs (which i assume is visual basic scripting language), you can go into vb.net which fulfills your requirements and uses similar syntax

youtube videos, tutorials, and books are fine to learn.

i used the book for the microsoft certification in vb.net using windows forms (70-305 towards MCAD iirc, though don't quote me on it). that was years ago though, so it's probably out of date.

If you wanna get out of vb, people here usually recommend python. i like to recommend SQL as a first language to learn, but it's not really suited for your requirements.

This post was edited by carteblanche on Jun 9 2012 10:18pm

thanks, I talked to a few of my friends who know a little about programming, and one suggested java, one suggested C#. Are either of them very difficult to learn or is there any major drawback with either? And what kinds of stuff could I do with them?

java and c# share similar syntax. C# uses the same libraries as VB.NET since it's built on the same framework, and C# is more advanced than java. If you're restricting yourself to these three, go with VB.NET first since you're comfortable with the syntax, then you can go to C# because you're comfortable with the libraries, then you can go to java because you're comfortable with the syntax. But take it one step at a time.

as for what kinds of stuff you can do with em, use your imagination. since you're new, i'll stick with broad examples. you can create your own separate program full with buttons, menu bars, labels, text boxes, etc that most programs you see have. you can do "advanced math stuff like logs", but they're probably not the best suited for actual advanced math stuff. you can also make web sites using frameworks, android app if you're in java, XNA gives you game programming for VB.NET/C#, and whatnot.

This post was edited by carteblanche on Jun 9 2012 10:26pm

thanks. does anyone have any other suggestions as well?

C++ bascis were very easy for me to learn, i def suggest it to you.