Learning to program

My friend told me that starting with Java is a good idea because it's easy and it works on all platforms. Is this true or should I start with something else?

>>14
That is a pretty good account of OO in C++.  Infact the first compilers trlanslated C++ to C first.  Although OO is only one paradigm in C++.  Generic programming with the STL is pretty cool, without regard of efficency and such.