What is the best way to into programming?

Preferably while learning relevant languages, but not necessarily.

learn OOPL concepts using java. Afterwards, every other language will take a fraction of the amount of time to learn. Anyone else that says differently is disregarding the learning aspect of your question and simply posting their favorite / most-proficient-in language. Different programming environments call for different languages.

>>16
Please not PHP, it's a horrible language and this is coming from a PHP dev. I got sucked into it because of its seemingly familiar syntax with C (at least on face value) and the ease of deployment (at that time). Definitely start with Python or if you're into modding games, Lua.

>>20
Why would you send a newbie to Java to learn OOP? It's not even OOP, it's Class oriented more than anything. Learn proper OOP using Erlang with its actor model or Smalltalk.