I would agree that BASIC is a bad idea.

I also would reiterate the Waite Group's C Primer endorsement I had that little gem myself and it's very well-written.

Another good way to learn is to look at sample code. There are literally millions of lines of sample code available online.

That's how I became self-taught in C, Perl, and PHP, as well as MySQL. Just looking at sample code, then doing Google searches or manual checks for things I needed more information on.

C++, Perl, Python, shell scripting, Ruby, etc. etc.

Personally, I love Perl as a robust way to do things in a shell environment. Manipulating text and files is easy with Perl. Perl is for when your bash scripts just can't do exactly what you want.

PHP is great for web programming. The syntax is very similar to Perl.

C++ is what you want for writing something that you need performance for. Graphics, multi-user apps, etc.

Prorgramming can be a creative outlet instead of writing poetry, short stories, novels, or drawing or painting.