Possible Duplicate: What programming language should be taught in Computer Science 101? My girlfriend hates feeling completely out of the loop when my friends and I talk about anything related to computers, so she asked me to teach her how to program. I'm pretty happy she asked, but I want to be able to teach her enough to know the basics without her completely losing interest or getting too frustrated. She is a very smart girl, probably smarter than me, but her computer related skills are pretty minimal. What language should I teach her and why?