Here's a site which has sections on many, many languages. For each language the section will have links to resources, tutorials, books, downloads, and other programming websites.

http://code.box.sk

IMHO a good first language for someone to learn is 'C'.

As NotJeff mentioned, it can be good to take a programming course. But that really depends on how they go about teaching it. If the instructor tells you to go buy a book and read the chapters, and gives you assignments right out of the textbook, then you're better off without it.