I'm staarting to learn programming now, on my own - I am a windows Power user and I built my own PC (7900GT, 4000+San Diego, 2 GB Corsair XMS), so my hardware knowledge is competent. BUT, I have to start learning programming, as I want to start making my own apps and stuff. I know basic HTML, but that's about it. Can anyone suggest any thing I should go for, I've heard about Visual Basic, but i don't know the difference between 6.0 and .net, and which one shoul i go for, or should i just do regular BASIC?

After basic, any suggestions on what to go for i.e Java, Flash, Python, C...

Any programs that are helpful or i should need for a successful programming start?

Thanks

For ease of starting out and the power that you can eventually get, I would definitely recommend VB.Net.

There are basically 3 flavors of VB from Microsoft:

1. VB 6.0. This is the old, classic visual basic. Don't even bother starting with this -- it's dead. All new development is being done in .Net.

2. .Net 1.1 (also called .Net 2003). This was the first incarnation of .Net. It has been superceded by ...

3. .Net 2.0 (also called .Net 2005). This is what I recommend. You can do standard windows forms programming (with VB.Net), and dynamic website programming (with ASP.Net). There are also two FREE development environments you can download from Microsoft:

- Visual Basic 2005 Express Edition. This is the VB.Net windows forms development environment. Full editing of your source code, syntax highlighting, intellisense, project management, and help.

- Visual Web Developer 2005 Express Edition. This is the ASP.Net website development environment. Same features as VB2005EE, with preview of your website and debugging.

Despite being free, these two development environments are quite powerful, I've built full applications in each of them.

Python is a good start.

I have learned a little VB 6.0 (only enough to get me in trouble at work). I went out and bought one of those "learn VB in 2 weeks" books and it really helped a lot being a beginner. It was published by Sams. If you can't take a class, then the book is the way to go. It stressed documentation and using standards a lot.

I also look at code at vbcode.com to get samples of stuff that I want to do.

If you end up going the route of VB 6, and you have a question I'll do my best to help you out (only beginner questions because I'm still a rookie). I save every bit of code that I write and it's pretty well documented.

You can get the express edition free here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/default.aspx

I also recommend checking out the free starter kits here:

http://msdn.microsoft.com/vstudio/express/vb/starterkit/default.aspx