A friend of mine wants to learn to program. I recommended either Ruby or Python and petitioned the Lazyweb for good places to start. In case they’re of use to anyone else, here are the recommendations I got back:
Poignant Guide
Way out in front is the Poignant Guide. It’s by why. It starts with a cartoon strip. Awesome.
Tryruby
An in-browser console. Allows you to dip your toes in the water without having to get your systems all set up. Bonus for the terminal-shy.
Hackety Hack
Calling itself the “coder’s starter kit”, Hackety Hack seems to be a self-contained, multi-platform training course, including a console, tutorials, cheat sheets and a place to store your own little apps. It’s currently being re-worked but worth keeping an eye on.
