I'm quite interested in learning programming. I want to know how us eager souls can go about doing that. I'm interested in both web and desktop programming. I already know XHTML & CSS. Any recommended books?

Get the latest book on PHP or ASP depending on what platform you want to go for. I would recommend PHP as its much easier to find resources and free hosting for PHP based websites. A good book on JavaScript will help too with adding more dynamic interactivity to your site. The reason why I suggest a book is because they usually cover the first steps in detail and build on from there rather then you googling from various sites to site trying to find the next tutorial.

Anything and everything you can learn about PHP can be found in the PHP manual available on the PHP website. It is the best form of documentation i've ever ran into. For JavaScript, once you get the hang of PHP, you'll notice the syntax is quite similar. This is enough to get you started, for you'll understand things quicker. All you'd have to do then is figure out how certain things are committed differently than PHP, etc. Purchasing a book on advanced JavaScripting will be helpful afterwards.

For desktop applications, i'd recommend Python or C. Thanks to open-source software, you can get a sneak peak of how things are done. You may not be able to understand it, as the syntax is different than PHP and JavaScript, even more so Python. But Amazon has some nice books concerning them; just check out the user reviews. But with Python you should be able to learn the language via the Python website.

Anything written by Larry Ullman will be a good source of information. He writes books in a very comfortable manner. Php and mysql are his favourite languages. See Amazon.com.

Just wanted to share that if you use google you can find tutorials for most programming stuff. It is especially useful for beginner information, however sometimes more in-depth info as well. I would start online for basics to ensure it's something you're really interested in, and then go to a bookstore for more(Frys Electronics has a lot, as does Amazon.com)

Resources are very available for programming. Its your interest and perseverance that would matter most. Reading is very easy to do, understanding it would be very difficult if you really don't have the passion for it.

Hi strange nick.
The main language for programming is C, it is one of the first languages and most used by day.
It advantages are that it is fast and portable, that means that you can compile the same source in linux, macosX and windows.
You will find a lot or resources about C, so just search on google.
Other starters languages for desktop applications are the Microsoft suite.For example visual basic, it is very easy to use, but you really dont learn to program, just to make programs. This languages(.NET) are now supported by linux and macosx with the free implementation of Mono virtual machine.
For programming languages i recommend you to learn javascript and php. There is a lot of information at w3schools.com . Php is very dynamic and highly supported by all the hosts, it also is very flexible, it supports many databases.
About javascript, you should also learn about Ajax, it is now very used. There is not very much information about it but enough to start developing.

Well, i think that it is a good introduction, now you can choose where to start.

Regards, Seba.

PS: Sorry for my english.

I agree with seba. If you learn C you'll have an edge in learning other language since C is a very powerful yet simple language. There's a lot of similarity between C and other languages. So C could be your stepping stone.

Since I already know XHTML and CSS, I think I should go with PHP (+MySQL).

Is it possible to try and learn PHP and C at the same time without getting too confused. Also whats C++ and C#?

One final question, is there any books I can read before learning a language. Something that describes the programming concepts basics and underlying principles?