Beginners programming

I'm sure you have seen this thread a million times, so once I get a satisfactory answer I will let it die/sage

What should the first language I learn be?
What program should I write it in?
What's the best compiler for the language you are advising me to try?
Should I do my work on Linux or Windows?
Best book, or site that will teach me the language?
Any other thoughts?

>>40
I was comparing Microsoft's C++ compiler (which is usually invoked in VS) to GCC.  Reread.

>>39
That's true, and I never thought about it.

>>38
Yeah, that's about when I think it makes sense to use an IDE.  Usually I find people have trouble getting into VS when they don't know anything about programming, while you can tell them a simple shell command like gcc -o outname srcfile.c and they can manage well.  But like >>39 said, you can invoke the MS compiler directly.