Beginning programming

[root]

you can do C in visual studio even without a patch...
when you start a project just choose to create an empty solution, then add a new file, called [name].c

C isn't exactly object orientatedno.
but then if you wanted a dictionary difinition of object orientated you'd look to languages like Javascript, and VB.
where you have objects and properties of said objects., properties have values and you refere to each of them specifically noting the object.

what C does have going for it, (more than practically any other language) is the enforced rigidity of the code, every valiable is explicit, insize and type. (however this can cause problems with overflows if you don't do it right).
it has a very very small package form, (typically a few KB) it is very very widely used.
You can write console aplications, language parsers, web aplications, database applications, network applications, embedded device applications. (I cant think of any other languages where you can do all of those in one common language, without the need to port the languae between platforms)...

just as a side note, network aplications do require some porting, but the objects (MFC sockets / BSD sockets) used have the same syntax, just different resources.

 

[Cx]

c++, c's cusion is simular to c and might be worth looking into. it's also object oriented. it's also widely used.

 

[Lord Kalthorn]

Very widely used.

C# is good too Cross Platform if you're into the funky Interoperability stuff.

 

[Eyes0nly]

I think you guys are going a bit over the scope of this thread, I don't think he is thinking about Interoperability with his hello world programs just at the moment, lol.

 

[Mal1]

hehe yeah, I found a tutorial that didn't start with a "hello world" program, I was disgraced. Word of warning, any tutorial that doesn't start with a "hello world" program is likely to be a rubbish one. So move along
As for starting to program with no experience, only you know how you see the subject as a whole. When you see a ' = ' sign do you see 'equals' or do you see 'assign the value of'. Things like that will let you know what level you really are and how well you're likely to understand it. I started on C++ and Java and am still doing both. I (for about a week) tried BASIC but it has no practical use in modern day programming so there really isn't much point OTHER than to get the idea of how things are done. I think C is a perfectly adequite starting point and it has been said that Python, Pascal and (in my opinion) Java are good starting languages. If you haven't done any web programming then even a 1 day tutorial of HTML moving onto PHP will enable you to understand basic principles before you move into a more demanding language, that once you realise what it's trying to teach you, becomes very easy to understand.
One piece of advice: Trial and error and repairing code will teach you more than any book ever could.