这是一本很棒的书，我的小弟弟们曾经学过:

http://pine.fm/LearnToProgram/

当然，最重要的是在读完这本书之后立即开始一个真正有用的程序。

Python is easy for new developers to learn. You don't get tangled up in the specifics of memory management and type definition. Dive Into Python is a good beginners guide to python programming. When my sister wanted to learn programing I pointed her to the "Head Start" line of books which she found very easy to read and understand. I find it's hard to just start teaching someone because you don't have a lexicon to use with them. First have him read a few books or tutorials and ask you for questions. From there you can assign projects and grade them. I find it hard to teach programming because I learned it over nearly 15 years of tinkering around.

我认为Python是一种非常好的开始语言::-)

我建议你试试http://www.pythonchallenge.com/

它就像一个小冒险，每个解决方案都将你链接到一个新的好问题。

解决问题后，你可以进入一个不错的论坛，讨论你的代码，并看到其他人创建了什么。

你可以试试爱丽丝。这是一个为编程入门课程设计的3D程序。

对于新程序员来说，最大的两个障碍通常是:

语法错误 动机(写一些有意义和有趣的东西而不是做作的)

Alice使用拖放界面来构造程序，避免了语法错误的可能性。Alice允许你构建3D世界，让你的代码控制(简单的)3D角色和动画，这通常比实现链表有趣得多。

有经验的程序员可能会把Alice当作玩具，嘲笑拖放代码行，但研究表明这种方法是有效的。

免责声明:我为Alice工作过。

There have already been a bunch of great answers, but for an absolute beginner, I would wholeheartedly recommend Hackety Hack. It was created by the unreasonably prolific why_the_lucky_stiff specifically to provide a BASIC/LOGO/Pascal-like environment for new programmers to experiment in. It's essentially a slick Ruby IDE with some great libraries (flash video, IM, web server) and interactive lessons. It makes a good pitch for programming, as it chose lessons that do fun, useful things. "Hello, world" may not impress right off the bat, but creating a custom IM client in 20 minutes can inspire someone to keep learning. Have fun!

试着在网上找一份《Why’s (Poignant) Guide to Ruby》。原来的网站是离线的，但我相信有一些镜像在那里。它不是典型的编程指南;它为学习一门可能适合你朋友的新语言提供了独特(和有趣)的视角。更不用说，Ruby是一种很好的学习语言。