I’m a huge fan of Python, but the main lectures at Stanford only teach Java and C++. I just discovered that MIT introductory programming courses now use Python, so I finally have a resource to point people to instead of telling them to go download one of the many free books available. If you have no programming background at all, you may want to go over the ‘pre-introductory’ material first (here or here). Be sure to check out How to Think Like a Computer Scientist.
Academic Wanderings 